Calligraphy Calculators

Nib widths, guideline spacing, ink coverage and timing. 9 calculators for broad-edge lettering. Cards, envelopes and stationery sit under Paper Crafts.

Nib width ratios are the system that lets calligraphy scale. Letter height is not measured in millimetres, it is measured in nib widths stacked one above another, so Foundational at 4.5 nib widths of x-height looks proportionally identical whether you write it with a 1 mm nib or a 3 mm one. That is why a script survives being enlarged, and why guidelines have to be redrawn for every nib you pick up.

One convention trap is worth knowing, and both pages here handle it openly. Ascenders can be counted above the x-height line or from the baseline, and the two differ by exactly one x-height. Foundational is 3 nib widths above the x-height, which is 7.5 from the baseline. Reference books split roughly evenly between the conventions, which is how people end up with letters a third too tall.

Copperplate is not on these pages. It is a pointed-pen script and does not use pen widths at all.