A Tale of Two Gradients

Today I filled a gap in my 0.5mm pencil collection so I took the set out for a spin. Literally. 

I was just playing around with light to dark gradients and came up with this.

I did two patterns with each 0.5mm lead starting with 4H on the outermost loop and finishing with 2B on the innermost. This is 210/135/A1-B8. A1 and B1 are both using 4H, and so on through the rest. Not really all that exciting, but still a pleasing result. 

Then I wondered what it would look like if I flipped the gradient in the other direction, darker on the outside, lighter toward the middle.

Exact same pattern. Exact same leads. Radically different perception of the pattern. Amazing what something like simply flipping the order can do. (Technically, this one has two more patterns since I decided to go all the way to 3B instead of stopping at 2B like with the previous one, though the extra couple loops don't significantly alter the effect.) 

This is one of the things I love about Wild Gears. Little changes in gears or methods can produce such radically different results.