community of dyers

Since you indicated handmade felt, I'm assuming you mean felted wool fiber. Yes, it is possible to apply dye directly to the felt and then steam it to set it. Watercolor effects (like color washes) are very possible, but doing precise designs (for example, with fine lines or precise areas of color) is more problematic.

If I were painting dye onto fabric like silk or cotton and wanted precision, I would use thickened dye so I could place color exactly where I wanted it. I've never tried to do this on wool felt so I can't say with absolute certainty, but I doubt it would work. The problem with wool is that it naturally repels water. Thickened dye would most likely just sit on the surface so you might get some color but it probably wouldn't penetrate very far into the felt (although maybe you'd be okay with that). If you used straight dye with no thickener I think you'd have a tougher time achieving any kind precision.

Another way to do this, and what I would do personally, is to dye the fibers different colors before felting and lay them down for the design I wanted. For precise color blocks I might use prefelt and for precise lines I might needle felt them in place after felting the base piece.

Still, it might be worth doing a little experimenting just to see what happens. Even if you don't get exactly what you were aiming for, you might get something you like even better.