thINKthursday
P.W. Akkerman Gele Oker van Frans

Gele Oker van Frans will light up your page and provide enough sunshine for your flowers to blossom.

thINKthursday – Akkerman Dutch Masters Gele Oker van Frans

Akkerman recently released a series of 12 inks that pay homage to the great artists of the Netherlands. Gele Oker translates to yellow ocher and Frans references Frans Hals, the Dutch Golden Age portrait artist. This vivid golden ink has wonderful orange tones. The ink is uniquely packaged in a 120ml glass bottles that is shaped similarly to Akkerman’s normal 60ml bottle. Besides the added volume, this bottle has a rounder base, but still maintains the distinct neck. A glass marble in this section allows the reservoir to fill when tipped upside down, and remain filled when upright. This allows for easily filling even when the bottle is low on ink. This review was done with a Pilot Custom 74 F, Lamy Al-Star B and on Rhodia No. 18 blank paper.

While the name would suggest that this would be a muted ochre color, the ink is a bright yellow that has tangerine tones. The ink shades well in both a fine and broad nib which creates a large range of colors. Light marigold yellows shade to vibrant apricot and marmalade oranges. One gets the largest amount of shading with a broad nib, but the differentiation in color is still apparent with fine nibs.

Gele Oker van Frans has good flow and no feathering or bleedthrough on Rhodia paper. While the saturation is on the low side, it produces a high level of shading. Dry times were good for a lighter ink at 15-25 seconds. The ink has no water resistance, but clean up was very easy.

My biggest concern with lighter inks is readability, but there was no issue with either the fine and broad nibs. The color of the ink and the way it shades makes it fun to write with and also read. While perhaps not the most workplace appropriate ink, I’ve had a blast using it for journaling.

As with any ink review, the pen, paper, and person doing the writing will influence the way the ink looks. If you’re not sure about a color, try a sample to see if it’s the one for you.

Ink it Up!
Chris

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