The Solstice Wall is an art installation by Lee and Sachi LeFever, in their home on Orcas Island, WA.
The project is complete. The blog posts below provide an inside look at the creative process. Contact us.
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On June 30th, the Summer Solstice, I set up a camera and recorded the Solstice Wall in action. Over a few hours, the camera captured a timelapse video of the shadow crossing the rays of the Solstice Wall. Here is the result:
That all changed in December of 2023 when I started sharing videos of the Solstice Wall project in 1-minute videos, mostly as Instagram Reels. To my surprise (and delight) the project went viral and changed my online experience, albeit temporarily.
The Solstice Wall project is now complete. It all started nearly three years ago, when we marked a shadow’s position on our wall in 15-minute increments, as the sun set.
It finally happened on February 11th, 2024. It took less than an hour to place the rays and tap them into the wall. To my surprise, the rays looked just as expected and didn’t need changes. I couldn’t believe it was finally done.
Right now, the plywood panels that will hold the rays are mounted on the wall of our great room. Getting to this point was a relief because everything was built on the floor of our garage. I worried that I’d missed a detail or flubbed a measurement. I imagined the panels, which contain 79 holes for holding the rays, would not match up as expected. Then what?
For the Solstice wall, we wanted to make the plies even more obvious, so I started experimenting with stains. I found that the stain we used for our western red cedar ceilings and soffits worked well.
In planning the Solstice Wall, I experimented with the tools I’d need to make it work. I don’t own table saws or drill presses, so I set out to find what would work. This introduced me to a variety of woodworking gadgets that I now consider essential.
The design of the Solstice Wall involves two 6′ circles. The circles will be made of strips of plywood, what I call “rays”. Sachi and I had a number of discussions about how to manipulate the rays to be more circular. She had the idea of shaping the end of each ray to reflect the flow of the circle’s curve.
The project has taken many months and may be complete within a couple of weeks. This post is a quick review of where we’ve been so far.
I didn’t expect for tape to be such a useful part of the process. It has been helpful in getting an overall sense of the design before we start doing more permanent things like cutting wood and drilling holes.
One design idea has stood the test of time. I always liked the idea of using circles that balance the linear lines and also symbolize the sun.
One way we’ve found to think about the design is by using lines on a photo of the wall. This creates a close-enough view of the size, shape, and feel of the rays on the wall.
One of the fascinating parts of this project, to me, is that there is no playbook. I can’t find any helpful resources for how to make the Solstice Wall work. I take this as a challenge. We will experiment our way through.
I always assumed the rays of the Solstice Wall would be mounted directly onto the drywall. Over time and lot of experiments, it became clear this would not work well.
To start building the Solstice Wall, we needed to cut a 4X8 sheet of Baltic birch plywood into 1″ strips that we’ll eventually mount onto the wall. Thankfully, a friend offered his large table saw for cutting the plywood.
The rays of the Solstice Wall will be made of Baltic birch plywood, cut into strips. The plies will be visible, so I needed to figure out how to stain and finish them.
We asked: what if the lines on the wall were made of the same plywood, with the plies facing outward? This way, the installation would have an aesthetic connection to other parts of the home.
Eventually, we started to consider making the shadow lines 3 dimensional and thought about adhering pieces of wood to the wall. This felt like the right direction, but it needed more. Soon we saw an opportunity to hold the shadow lines off the wall. This way, the shadows would be more interesting and the whole thing would look more sophisticated.
At our home on Orcas Island, we have a large interior wall that faces south. In 2021, during our first summer at Flattop, we noticed that the roofline cast a shadow across the wall as the sun set every evening. This shadow’s movement gave us an idea.
On most Tuesdays, I share a story from my life on Orcas Island and a recommendation for something I love. I’m interested in how to design work and home for lifestyle, livability, and fluffy dogs. Learn more.
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