Davies's efficient covering theorem states that we can cover any measurable set in the plane by lines without increasing the total measure. This result has a dual formulation, known as Falconer's digital sundial theorem, which states that we can construct a set in the plane to have any desired projections, up to null sets. The argument relies on a Venetian blind construction, a classical method in geometric measure theory. In joint work with Alex McDonald and Krystal Taylor, we study a variant of Davies's efficient covering theorem in which we replace lines with curves. This has a dual formulation in terms of nonlinear projections.