I painted the panel this morning, using an 0.5% solution of fiber-reactive dyes in various colors. Here it is:
Here, by way of contrast, is what it looked like before painting:
It’s amazing how much white will “wash out” a color, isn’t it?
Anyway, I am still not happy with this panel. The top half is okay, but the bottom half looks like a bad dye job. And the results of my experiment are not encouraging:
What disturbs me here isn’t so much the striping as the consistency of the striping. It’s very clearly inconsistent throughout the blank – so again, it will tend to look like a mistake, not something intentional.
All of which leads me to conclude that smooth, consistent color transitions are probably the easiest and best way to get consistency. I have the feeling that minor color inconsistencies will give me interesting color variations anyway – and if there aren’t any, by all the myriad gods, I can put them there via dye painting, silkscreening, embroidery, or what have you.
So there. (Nyah.)
Tomorrow morning I’m going to a guild meeting, and after that I’ll be headed over to Oakland, where a fellow who repairs knitting machines may sell me a more modern knitting machine to replace my semi-antique one. Once I get back, I’ll probably use my new-to-me machine to knit another test blank, this time testing a smooth color gradation. I have to do a test blank anyway to determine gauge on the machine, so might as well test the smooth color gradation while I’m at it!
Since you don’t love it, it could come live at my house. Seriously absolutely adore it!! We are always more critical of our accomplishments than most other people will ever be. It is gorgeous.