Surprisingly interesting thing to try

[WindyCity_Wanderer]

Hi All
I'm pretty new here but from what I have seen this seems to be a group that can appreciate the simple things in life. A few years ago I came across an article about a Japanese art form called Dorodango. I believe it translates loosely to "shiny mud balls" the examples I saw were absolutely beautiful. It is quite simply dirt that is worked in your hands for hours until it becomes a beautiful shiny sphere. Sounds weird I know but after trying this a few times I found this to be incredibly therapeutic. After a few hours of very cautiously shaping and shaping this ball of dirt becomes like a pet. You bond with it on a very basic level.

The goal is simply to create a sphere free from imperfections. That's it. It takes hours to get it right. Hours of thinking about nothing but this sphere of earth. Slowly adding layers of powdery soil and rubbing it with your hands. After time it begins to shine like a pool ball. The calmer your mind is the better the sphere is.

There are tons of instructional pages and videos of you ever want to try this yourself. I started collecting soil from various places I have been and making dorodango from each place. I have yet to have one turn out as perfect as I would like but someday I will. Here is a site with a great photo gallery of dorodango. http://dorodango.com/
Check it out sometime. Get kids doing it too. I had 6 kids under the age of 7 doing this for nearly 4 hours one afternoon. Just quietly sitting there creating their shiny mud ball. It really surprised me how quickly they were enamored with the process even without seeing the end result first.

All the best
-Scott


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[BigSkySmoke]

Can you post some pics of your balls...

 

[WindyCity_Wanderer]

Can you post some pics of your balls...

Well there are a couple ways to respond to that. I have to assume and hope you mean my mud balls. Lol. I only have one that I kept. It's on my desk at work. I'll post a pic here tomorrow. I made 3 that actually did not look like hell. I have soil from two vacations waiting to be made into dorodango.
I made the three from dirt I gathered at the cemetery where my dad is buried. I gave the other two to my siblings.
I have some beautiful red soil I picked up on my way home from Tennessee that I hope to work this winter when I have some spare hours.
Stay tuned for pics of my ball

This place cracks me up


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[mjones9630]

Not really for me, but I can see it's therapeutic merits, especially for the kids. The clay from the river by my house is blue.. If you want, I'll try to scoop you some up next time I'm able to...

 

[Happy Idiot]

I want to see your muddy balls, dude.

 

[WindyCity_Wanderer]

Not really for me, but I can see it's therapeutic merits, especially for the kids. The clay from the river by my house is blue.. If you want, I'll try to scoop you some up next time I'm able to...

Thanks for the offer but unfortunately clay is no bueno. Sandier soil seems to work better.
Clay cracks really badly.



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[Happy Idiot]

Dude. Yr right. I'm handling my balls right now and it is very theraputic. I could do this for hours!

 

[WindyCity_Wanderer]

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[StogieNinja]

Not really for me, but I can see it's therapeutic merits, especially for the kids. The clay from the river by my house is blue.. If you want, I'll try to scoop you some up next time I'm able to...

Waitaminute, waitaminute, waitaminute... you're offering to help him get blue balls?!

 

[Senor Perfecto]

cool

 

[WindyCity_Wanderer]

Waitaminute, waitaminute, waitaminute... you're offering to help him get blue balls?!

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[Old Smokey]

This is nuts

 

[WindyCity_Wanderer]

Can you post some pics of your balls...

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[Cigary43]

Shiny Mudd Balls Matter....you knew this was coming, right? Wax on/wax off.

 

[WindyCity_Wanderer]

All balls matter


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[mjones9630]

Waitaminute, waitaminute, waitaminute... you're offering to help him get blue balls?!

 

[CVAC085]

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Nice mug!!!

 

[3/5King]

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This is an excellent attempt! Sounds interesting. How long did you work on this one and are they fragile?

 

[WindyCity_Wanderer]

Thanks King,
This one took about 5 or 6 hours of constant smoothing and a few hours to dry out. The goal is to draw out moisture from the center very slowly. If it dries too fast it will crack the outer shell. I lost quite a few of them that looked much nicer than this one before they self destructed. I'll try to describe what happens.....
after you completely dry the soil and sift it so there are no lumps, rocks, grass etc you add water to some of the dirt to make mud about the consistency of a dense dough. This will make up 99% of the final sphere and should be worked in your hands to a ball about the size of a cue ball (smaller if you have smaller hands)
It will be soft and will be constantly trying to not be a sphere. You just have to keep GENTLY working it into a sphere. It will begin drying as you smooth it with your hands.
Once you get the sphere formed and consistently smooth you will sprinkle dry dirt over the whole thing like powdering a donut. Then you keep smoothing and never let it sit or gravity will quickly flatten one side. after a little while the surface will be wet again as the dry dirt you sprinkled on draws moisture from the center to the surface. Once it is wet again you sprinkle with dry dirt again and keep smoothing....Repeat these steps over and over until it stops drawing moisture from the center to the surface. This is when you will let it rest in a Ziploc bag. Make sure that you rest it in a bag and set that bag on something soft like a folded towel or else you will flatten one side and have to start over.
You will see moisture again come to the surface. Add more powder now and repeat.
The goal is to remove the moisture from the center very slowly. If you rush it and it dries too fast the core will shrink and the outer shell that you have been adding will shatter and wrinkle like a raisin.
Eventually you will see that it pretty much stops bringing moisture to the surface. At this point let it rest overnight outside of the bag and in the morning you will know if it was all for naught. I had several Keep doing that long enough and it will start to shine.
Never use any lacquers or chemical coatings. The goal here is to be left with as perfect a sphere as you can form with your hands that will shine as much as the dirt will allow. Some dirt shines better than others just depends on the soil composition. Each one is unique and each has its own potential.
I hope some of you give this a try.
All the best

 

[3/5King]

Thanks King,
This one took about 5 or 6 hours of constant smoothing and a few hours to dry out. The goal is to draw out moisture from the center very slowly. If it dries too fast it will crack the outer shell. I lost quite a few of them that looked much nicer than this one before they self destructed. I'll try to describe what happens.....
after you completely dry the soil and sift it so there are no lumps, rocks, grass etc you add water to some of the dirt to make mud about the consistency of a dense dough. This will make up 99% of the final sphere and should be worked in your hands to a ball about the size of a cue ball (smaller if you have smaller hands)
It will be soft and will be constantly trying to not be a sphere. You just have to keep GENTLY working it into a sphere. It will begin drying as you smooth it with your hands.
Once you get the sphere formed and consistently smooth you will sprinkle dry dirt over the whole thing like powdering a donut. Then you keep smoothing and never let it sit or gravity will quickly flatten one side. after a little while the surface will be wet again as the dry dirt you sprinkled on draws moisture from the center to the surface. Once it is wet again you sprinkle with dry dirt again and keep smoothing....Repeat these steps over and over until it stops drawing moisture from the center to the surface. This is when you will let it rest in a Ziploc bag. Make sure that you rest it in a bag and set that bag on something soft like a folded towel or else you will flatten one side and have to start over.
You will see moisture again come to the surface. Add more powder now and repeat.
The goal is to remove the moisture from the center very slowly. If you rush it and it dries too fast the core will shrink and the outer shell that you have been adding will shatter and wrinkle like a raisin.
Eventually you will see that it pretty much stops bringing moisture to the surface. At this point let it rest overnight outside of the bag and in the morning you will know if it was all for naught. I had several Keep doing that long enough and it will start to shine.
Never use any lacquers or chemical coatings. The goal here is to be left with as perfect a sphere as you can form with your hands that will shine as much as the dirt will allow. Some dirt shines better than others just depends on the soil composition. Each one is unique and each has its own potential.
I hope some of you give this a try.
All the best

I'm intrigued. I'll post my results if and when I give it a try. Thank you for the details brother.