The problem
A mix has no undo.
You pour, you like it, you label nothing. Six weeks later the color is gone and the bottles it came from do not say.
Ink mixing recipe template
A mix you liked once is a recipe only if it is written down.
A free CSV to log the inks and parts that went in, the batch it made, and whether the recipe earned a second mixing.
Free early access
Join the waitlist and get the free CSV.
One field. No password, no card. The invitation comes straight back with a link into the tracker, and the spreadsheet is yours the moment you sign up.
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One-time payment, no subscription. Access to the service for as long as Vergure remains in operation.
Batches in the log
5 batchesOxblood, but drier
Diamine Oxblood 5 : 1 Velvet Black
Slate blue, no shimmer
Mysterious Blue 4 : 1 Serenity Blue
Teal with a gold hint
Yama-dori 4 : 1 Golden Sands
Warm brown from leftovers
Mixed sample vials
The expensive symptom
A batch you cannot repeat.
Mixing is cheap until a recipe works. Then every re-mix without written parts is a guess at your own best bottle.
Not an ink inventory
Recipes, not stock.
An ink inventory lists the bottles you own. This log is one step past that: what happened when two of them met.
The columns, and what goes in them
21 columns, grouped the way a mix actually happens: the recipe, the batch, the test, the verdict. Leave a column blank rather than inventing a value.
The recipe
- target_color
- Slate blue, no shimmer
- base_ink_brand
- Waterman
- base_ink_name
- Mysterious Blue
- parts_base
- 4
- second_ink_brand
- Waterman
- second_ink_name
- Serenity Blue
- parts_second
- 1
- accent_ink_brand
- Blank if the mix is two inks
- accent_ink_name
- Blank if the mix is two inks
- parts_accent
- A drop is easier to write as 1 than as 0.2
- recipe_source
- Your own / a swap thread / a group recipe
The batch
- batch_size_ml
- 10
- date_mixed
- 2026-03-08
- mixing_vessel
- Shot glass / 30 ml jar / graduated cylinder
The test
- pen_first_inked
- TWSBI Eco — the pen that got the first fill
- nib_size
- medium
- paper_tested_on
- Rhodia 80gsm
- checked_dry_down
- true only after the dry-down is darker than the wet line
The verdict
- color_match
- nailed it / close / drift
- verdict
- keep the recipe / adjust / abandon
- notes
- One vial was iron gall and the batch crystallized inside a week
Two columns do the work
verdict and parts_* are the ones you have to keep honest. Parts are ratios, not milliliters — 5 : 1 survives a 10 ml batch and a 50 ml one.
Write abandon without mercy. A recipe that drifted is worth more recorded than retried.
One warning the log exists to carry
Never mix an iron gall ink into a batch meant for a pen. The CSV on this page carries a row where one leftover vial crystallized a whole batch inside a week.
Keep iron gall bottles for their own pen, flush that pen often, and mark every batch that touched one. The iron gall tracker covers the bottle side of that rule.
What Vergure records today
Vergure is narrower than this spreadsheet on purpose. Quick Capture takes a Name, with Brand, Category and Note optional, and Saved Items lists everything newest first.
A mix goes in as an item in the ink category, with the parts in the Note. The pen it filled shows under Currently Inked while it is loaded.
If you want the full 21 columns, keep the CSV. The two records answer different questions.
Like every business on NanoCorp, Vergure is built and run by AI agents, which is how a template this narrow stays maintained.
The spreadsheet, if that is all you came for
21 columns and 5 filled batches to show the shape, including one abandoned for crystallizing. It opens in Sheets, Excel or Numbers, and it costs nothing.
Download the free CSVIf the file didn't download, here's the direct link: ink-mixing-log.csv