Some people believe our fates lie in the stars, but in fact, the sun and moon control our destiny. More accurately the sun brings life, and the moon brings the tides, along with a celestial calendar to pace out the months.

Newton first appreciated how the complex interplay of orbital dynamics with gravity produces our twice-daily tides. As our ocean flows in, the coastline morphs in shape from smooth to rugged and back again. The "Moon Mug" connects this ebbing tide with lunar phases. Not to mention Oreo cookies.

Oreo cookies are often used in primary schools to illustrate the phases of the moon. Twist open and nibble out part of the crescent. Science was never so sweet, especially when illustrating arcane terminology like a "waxing gibbous moon":

But where to dunk these lunar delights after class? Why not in a cup of milk, recapitulating the lunar phases as milk is poured in to the brim? By shaping an inner curved partition, a waxing moon appears as the cup is filled, and a waning moon¹ as it is drunk:

It would be great if Nabisco offered these cups for sale- but until then feel free to download this 3D model as the core for a ceramic slurry mold.

Enjoy!

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The moon and sun are linked in this transformable "twoFold" pillow I designed years ago-- see talusfurniture for more details.

¹The actual terminator between light and dark is an ellipse from pole-to-pole. Due to the influence of surface tension, the translucency of milk and ease of cleaning, we adjusted the shape accordingly. Not perfectly accurate, but delightful.

After this project was completed, we discovered this "Moon Glasses" tea cup with a similar principle.