r/oddlysatisfying • u/21MayDay21 • 2d ago
This lady making shiny spheres from dirt, this is called Dorodango.
Credit to Dorodango Noriko
Dorodango is a Japanese art form and meditative hobby where plain dirt and water are carefully molded, dried, and polished into a perfectly smooth, shiny sphere that looks like a marble or polished stone. The word literally translates to "mud dumpling" (doro meaning mud, and dango meaning dumpling).
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u/entoaggie 2d ago
I loved the Mythbusters episode where they did this with shit to prove that you can polish a turd.
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u/ThrandyD 2d ago
Don't need mythbuster for that, I already know some very well polished turds
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u/FrostyD7 2d ago
They measured it though. That's what makes it science and not a fetish.
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u/Sweet_Music7817 1d ago
the only difference between science and screwing around is writing it down (:
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u/Different-Class1771 2d ago
Forbidden gobstopper
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u/PlainBread 2d ago
Forbidden bath bomb
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u/johnnybiggles 1d ago
Forbidden billiard ball
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u/Effective-Culture-88 1d ago
Wait actually the billard ball doesn't sound to...
*spill dirt on billard table*
Nevermind.29
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u/Zunderfeuer_88 2d ago
Wonder if I could make a Doodoodango
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u/sir_lister 2d ago
MythBusters beat you to it when they proved you could polish a turd
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u/SaberTaxman_53 2d ago
It looks delicious right up until your teeth discover the main ingredient is compacted soil.
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u/ChiggaOG 1d ago
Want a $99.99 healing sphere? Buy 3 for $300 to complement your healing crystals. The combination sure to transcend your life and bring higher inner peace.
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u/rtkane 2d ago
Would be really funny to create a cue ball for a pool table like this, then swap it out with the real cue ball when someone isn’t looking.
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u/Hephaestus_God 1d ago
Btw this process takes a long time and to get it right is also difficult. This video skipped like 99.9999% of the rolling lol.
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u/GenazaNL 2d ago
Looks more like clay tho
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u/sapphireminds 2d ago
Noriko uses clay powder, but you can also use "wild" clay from dirt.
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u/knobiknows 2d ago edited 1d ago
You're supposed to sift your dirt but it doesn't have to be clay. The polishing action makes it clay and brings the smaller silt particles to the top, removing larger pieces.
Edit: shiny or clay-like or whatever you want to call it. Coarse stuff polished off, small stuff remains
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u/MountainTwo3845 2d ago
you cannot make something clay. it's already clay.
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u/Dyolf_Knip 1d ago
Though I guess you could progressively mechanically grind larger particles into smaller ones? Though even then, clay is defined as much by chemistry as particle size. What do we call clay-sized particles that aren't composed of aluminum silicates?
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u/PernisTree 2d ago
Huge difference between silt and clay. Also you are not making dirt into clay.
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u/HessiPullUpJimbo 2d ago
That's not how clay works. Trust me I took years of geology and geotechnical engineering courses in college.
If you don't trust me just Google if you can turn sand into clay, or gravel into clay, or even silt into clay. Sand of course being a type of "dirt". Unless you mean dirt as in organic top soil.
Also silt particles are larger than clay particles but someone already told you that.
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u/knobiknows 1d ago
Apologies for using the wrong term, I meant silt as in the smallest types of particles that enable to ball to look shiny and clay-like after polishing off all the coarse stuff
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u/Make_Iggy_GreatAgain 2d ago
Polishing like in the video doesn't make clay. Clay is made by mechanical and chemical weathering of rock over long periods of time. You can't just polish sand for a few minutes and expect it to turn into clay.
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u/CaptainLollygag 1d ago
Wish I'd read this before I dug up the backyard. Guess I'll need to sell it as Artisanal Mud with Grass Root Ribbons.
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u/sapphireminds 1d ago
You don't have to sift it necessarily if you are not using wild clay. But the clay content of the soil is very important. If there's not enough clay, it won't from correctly and won't shine
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u/soulmatterx 2d ago
What I was thinking. Or very high clay content. I’ve seen people try this with just plain dirt and I don’t think it works for that reason
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u/spyingformontreal 2d ago
I don't think you need clay the mythbusters made durodongos out of animal poop
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u/soulmatterx 1d ago
Well I can see how that would work. I just mean you’d need some kind of “binder” to stop it from just drying out and cracking. But I don’t know, I’m no geologist.
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u/Auctoritate 1d ago
Dirt contains clay. Dirt is basically just whatever combination of clay, silt, and loam you have.
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u/Flussschlauch 2d ago
won't it crack as soon as the clay dries?
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u/ThenAnAnimalFact 2d ago
Pretty sure cracks form if the outside dries much faster in the inside, which is why part of the process is rewetting.
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u/ThatFatGuyMJL 1d ago
You start small. Let it dry wet the surface. Add more. Let it dry. Wet the surface, add more. Etc etc.
Until it's the size you want.
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u/Greg2Lu 2d ago
What if the color (powder) act as a sealant?
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u/1917he 2d ago
Ah yes, my favorite sealant. Powder
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u/newbrevity 2d ago
Sodium Silicate, Alum, Hydraulic cement, sinterseal, powdercoating. Not as far fetched as you might think
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u/-One-Man-Bukkake- 1d ago
Yeah cracking is a part of the process. But as you go the core dries and you're just wetting the surface, cracks that form, form smaller and smaller as the process continues
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2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/2d2trees 2d ago
Time enjoyed is not time wasted. Love yourself, friend <3
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u/30_somethingwhiteguy 2d ago
Great advice! I'm going to go buy a bunch of heroin, thanks for the inspiration
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u/cosmicheartbeat 2d ago
I genuinely dont think the issue with heroin is the amount of time wasted on it.
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u/gravitas_shortage 2d ago
She has a pretty, shiny ball, we have nothing but the bitterness of our regret.
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u/cosmicheartbeat 2d ago
This actually originated as a kind of meditation, so its meant to be spent in contemplation. Actually, this process is talked about alot in one of the Eragon books, and its really fascinating. Mythbusters also did a special on it, though I think they used poop.
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u/RampSkater 2d ago
I've done this several times with great results. I don't have an egg cup so I've been using a small jar that held a votive candle.
There are many tutorials out there and it was far easier than I expected.
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u/MartiniForever 1d ago
Is there a specific tutorial you would recommend?
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u/RampSkater 1d ago
I think this one is the most helpful since it was done by a guy documenting his first attempts and gives some good tips.
I've been experimenting with different materials and gray sculpting clay works just fine. The white, Crayola, air-dry clay doesn't work, though.
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u/Central_Incisor 1d ago
Because I have been wondering how strong they are and thought others would too.
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u/EuphoricAppathy 2d ago
Oooh, I want one
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u/Hot-Challenge8656 2d ago
Cheap as dirt to do it yourself.
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u/sapphireminds 2d ago
It's hard to get one that looks like Noriko's though. It's easy to learn, but difficult to master :)
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u/-One-Man-Bukkake- 1d ago
It's not hard it just takes time. A lot of waiting time. Right tools, specifically the egg cup used in the video here is the holy grail, and a bit of patience. Seriously easy, and cheap.
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u/sapphireminds 1d ago
It's difficult to get one as perfect as she does, especially with the vibrant colors.
I use an egg cup, sake cup, and the bottom of a mini wine glass made for shots to polish, and a steel plumbers nipple for shaping. I also have a glass spoon for polishing non spherical dangos :)
But yes very cheap!
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u/ibullybillionaires 1d ago
"The shell it forms is what gives an Erôthknurl its beauty. Over the course of a day, it will form a brilliant sheen, as if it was made of polished marble. With no buffing, no grinding, no magic - with only your heart, head and hands - you will have made a stone out of common earth... a fragile stone, it is true, but a stone nevertheless."
Orik to Eragon, Inheritance
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u/01029838291 1d ago
We used to do this as kids and bury the ball in dry dirt and we'd come back the next day and it would be hard as a rock.
Then we'd have dirt clod wars with them.
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u/Commercial-Act2813 1d ago
Mythbusters did this in their ‘you can’t polish a turd’ video
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u/financeperson 2d ago
You could transform da poo poo into a gumball and sell it for 5 cents in a gumball machine.
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u/PossiblePlastic8698 2d ago
Hey dad, remember all those times you told me you can't polish a turd?
Well, you know that shiny spherical sculpture I gave you for christmas last year...
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u/Bleezy79 1d ago
Do you start a collection or what do you do after you made the pretty dirt marble?
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u/ImposterBk 1d ago
What's the white and blue stuff she's coating it with? It seems she's not polishing the dirt/clay. She's polishing that additive.
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u/Admirable-Way-5296 1d ago
"mud dumpling" is the most endearing name for something this beautiful. also the patience required for this is insane, I would've rage-quit at step one
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u/Training_Ruin3151 2d ago
What is the tool she's using called
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u/Meme-Botto9001 1d ago
You can use anything round with a rim. Take an empty marmelade jar, a drinking glass, a plumbing fitting, an egg cup…you just need to make sure it’s smaller in diameter than your ball.
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u/turdusphilomelos 2d ago
So this is a thing? I mean, it is so popular people need to have a name for it?
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u/sapphireminds 2d ago
Yes. It's a traditional Japanese art
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u/Rokronroff 2d ago
It's a traditional childrens' pastime, but nearly died out until a revival in the late 90s which introduced the compacting and smoothing of the surface to make it glossy and elevated it to an art form.
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u/VictoryWeaver 2d ago edited 2d ago
that's not really "plain dirt". You have to use dirt with a high clay/silica content for it to work.
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u/sapphireminds 2d ago
You can actually process out the clay from wild dirt to increase the clay content of the piece you're making :)
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u/cloudsmiles 2d ago
What happens is you throw it really hard at a wall?
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u/sapphireminds 2d ago
It shatters :( same as what happens when your cat knocks it off your display shelf LMAO (ask me how I know!)
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u/mindgardening 1d ago
What are they for tho?
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u/sapphireminds 1d ago
Meditating while you make them and displaying something pretty.
You can also make them as mementos of noteworthy places you've visited.
I also make what I have coined as a "nekodango", making it kitty shaped. You can make it with a center of ashes if your kitty has passed away, or just keep it cat shaped for love ❤️
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u/biggheart 2d ago
ive wanted to try this ever since i saw it on mythbusters as a kid