How it was made

A Day in the Light

How the Skydial got here: the first sketches, the mechanical road not taken, the long argument about color, and the working model it was all tuned on.

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IJuly and August 2026

Early versions

The first versions were drawn in a web browser. Each one took something away from the one before: the digital clock, then the printed times, then the numbers, until only the sky and one hand were left.

An early dial: a ring of sky colors around a digital clock reading 13:00First sketchA ring of sky around a digital clock, with sunrise and sunset printed as times. A dial filled with sky color, one hand pointing up, tick marks around the edge28 JulyThe sky fills the whole face. One hand, hour ticks, no digits. A dial with the numbers 12, 18, 00 and 06 and a small sun on the hand29 JulyA trial with hour numbers and a sun at the tip of the hand. A dial with tick marks and one hand, no numbers29 JulyThe same day, with the numbers gone again. A bare disc of sky colors: blue above, dawn and dusk at the sides, dark below29 JulyEverything taken off. Only the sky. A ring of sky around a black center, inside a dark bezel10 AugustA ring-shaped trial on a watch-sized screen.
IIThe road not taken

Exploring the mechanical version

For a while the Skydial was going to be mechanical: a printed sky dial under two shutters of glass, one for dawn and one for dusk, and a single hand. These are concept renders made with an image generator, not photographs. That build was set down, and the sky moved to a screen.

An exploded diagram of a watch: movement, printed sky dial, two glass shutters and a single handConcept renderThe layers, pulled apart: movement, printed sky dial, a dawn shutter, a dusk shutter, one hand. A second exploded diagram of the same layers on a dark backgroundConcept renderA later render of the same stack.
IIIJudged by eye

Showing how we evaluated color

Color took the longest. First came learning the three twilights by name and by how deep the sun sits below the horizon. Then the same moment of the same day was drawn several ways and set side by side, because the only fair way to choose between skies is to look at them together.

A coastal path at civil twilight, with an orange horizon
ReferenceCivil twilight: the sun up to 6 degrees below the horizon.
The same coast at nautical twilight, much darker
ReferenceNautical twilight: 6 to 12 degrees below.
The same coast at astronomical twilight, with stars
ReferenceAstronomical twilight: 12 to 18 degrees below.
A three by three grid of dials comparing blending methods
Side by sideThree ways of blending, at three moments: 21 June at 18:30 and 19:10, and 21 December at 16:25.
The same grid of dials with column and row labels
Side by sideThe same comparison, labeled: as built, half depth, weighted by altitude.
IVThe working model

Everything that had to be decided

This is the model the dial was tuned on, running live. Every switch and slider beside it is something that had to be looked at, argued over and settled.

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controls in this build. Move any of them.

The model is running, one day every 48 seconds. Change anything on the right and the dial answers at once. This is build 5.8, the one that has been shown publicly; the Skydial itself runs a later build.

The first edition is twenty, made by hand.

See Series 00