r/Dorodango

Trying a New Hobby: Making a Japanese Dorodango ⚪️

I recently came across dorodango, the Japanese art of turning ordinary dirt/mud into a smooth, polished ball, and I thought it looked weirdly satisfying lol.

So I decided to try making one myself. Figured it could be a fun new hobby and a good excuse to actually spend some time doing something offline.

Step 1: Preparing the soil

I collected some soil from around my plants and started breaking it up and sieving it to get rid of the bigger stones and bits. I don’t have any fancy equipment, so I’m just working with what I have 😂

This is obviously just the beginning, but I’ll keep updating this post as I go through the different stages.

Hopefully, at the end of this, I’ll have a nice smooth shiny dorodango instead of a sad lump of dirt 💀

Step 1 done. More updates coming soon.

Do u think the shape is correct?

worked some more on it and its more rounder and shinier than before

I recently started learning how to make dorodango, and this is my first attempt. It’s still a little uneven and has a few cracks, but I’m enjoying the slow process of shaping and smoothing it.

I’m going to let it dry before polishing it further. Any beginner tips for preventing cracks and getting a smoother finish?

The big and small one wait to dry and then have them burnished. The medium one is up for some repairs.
Patience friends

Dorodang~

Was fun, ngl

as you can see my scrapings making progress and its working due to the shine the mudball has, but it is covered in small dents which just wont polish away, iv tried it as the videos have said by filling it up with fine mud first and keep trying, but its not working. Is it because the glass jar I have is too big to reach the small dents? If so what else can I do because I have nothing else that is smaller than the jar for scraping the ball.

Hey there! Yes, you expert right there!

Recently came across dorodango - the art of making shiny asf balls - and thought why not reconnect with Mother Earth. My inner child. Why not like rEJuVeNatE?!?!

And so here I am with soil from the neighbourhood (hoping its public property cuz if a mugshot is destined then why post stealing soil, it should be like, gold or a bank robbey at the very least) and let's see how the ball turns out now!

(Excited so much for my first earth marble yayayay)

I am a newbie, so all advice is appreciated (tons and dozens and lotssss)!

it was pretty fun just making this.

Very happy with this specimen. What dorodango lvl is this?

I set out to make a black as can be by material not just outer shell covering.

Material makeup

97% wood charcoal

3% kaolin powder

.5% black micha to balance out kaolin powder

It went about as well as you would think lol. Mostly as a why not its either gunna work or im gunna learn something about the process. Needless to say I had it mostly there but shining with any object other than my hand chunked off pieces. So I tried rolling it by hand for a while and didnt go very far but the core seemed to have dried so I gave it a little elbow grease and bam that was the end of it. Thankfully I did it over a sink.

It was dirty as all hell. Left a mess wherever it was. And then I have barely anything to show for it except a large chunk that survived.

Should have stopped where I was but gotta push it for the science.

Am I going to make another? Hell yea gunna tweak the formula and go again.