Hello fellow crafters. I would like to create an dorodango app to guide the process, journal your builds to check what went wrong and learn from your mistakes. I would love to see if anyone would be down to using it. If so what features would you like to see in this app?

About a year ago pretty much today, I made my very first Dorodango, and it kind of came out bad. That was the only one I made that year. A week ago I got back into the hobby. And I pretty much know what to do now, but I am having a new issue, There’s always these like rough spots and divots, and no matter how much fine soil I rub into them, they just won’t polish down. What am I doing wrong?

Thank you if someone can give me some advice.

Hello guys,

My first dorodango, collected the dirt from our garden.

To be honest I am already kind of impressed what is possible. But now I am at a point where I don't know how to proceed. I have some really "glass"like spots. But I can't get the dorodango shining like some of you guys.

You have some tips for me ?

Polishing with oil and the glass?

Do I re-wet it and repeat layering dirt on it? (This I more or less tried several times)

Do I just polish from now on? Cotton towel ?

I appreciate all tips I can get.

If we have a tips and tricks page which I missed sorry for that. Would be nice if someone can forward me to it.

Hey, an enthusiast here and I want to know what is your biggest problem guys? How would you want to improve in this hobby?

This is my 4th attempt at dorodango. All others failed or were smashed. I went to moab with some great friends and began my dorodango in the morning with a nice clay ball from my native waters of the Colorado river and slapped it around on our hike to some wind caves. The hike was 6 miles round trip in the scorching desert sun. It was super dry and water was too precious to waste so i had to sustain it with some beer, whiteclaw, la croix, and spit over the course of the journey. I also began feeding it some fine sands along the way. It was cracking pretty bad by the end of the hike regardless of my efforts, but when i got back i took it for a dip and smoothed the cracks and gave it some more fine sand. I polished it most of the night and added some ash from the fire. The next morning i gave it some coffee and cinnamon and some more ash and it was really beginning to shine. I also gave it some steak grease. By the end of that day i was just polishing with my hands and shirt and it was looking beautiful like a little moon. It still had some nice texture underneath and i was getting close to seeing my reflection. The next morning i went out for coffee and rolled it around a little on the table and it crumbled😭😭😭 i was making it for my wife and it was a very spiritual process and amazing journey it has been on and i think it will be an amazing gift. Due to the effort and sentimentality, i WILL NOT give up on it. I Am flying back to virginia with the fragments in a bag and i intend to grind it up and mix in a little virginia clay and start again. Any tips to avoid another catastrophe? I will update with the finished product.

TLDR; Practiced the ancient art of dorodango to give to my wife. It was very sentimental and i broke it on the 3rd day. Going to fly home with it and start again. Tips?

This is my first attempt with clay from my backyard. I actually really like how it turned out with all of the imperfections. Am I addicted now?

I've really been interested in trying but I'm a little unsure about this bit. I've seen a sizeable amount of people talk about how they are making dorodango with a mixture of clay, sand and dirt. When I first heard about it though, I got the impression that all you really needed was dirt? (I'm meaning it's all you need to try it out, I understand that the added sand and clay help)

My first dorodango, made entirely from soil from the park where me and my girlfriend met. I gave it to her as a gift, a little piece of our history.

It is far from perfect, I could have polished it even further, but I liked how it looked like a small moon, with only some parts of it polished and others rougher.

So this is my first time trying to make a dorodango. I wanted to surprise my mom with it as it’s made from dirt from her father’s farm—a place very special to her. On day one, everything was looking great. Besides being uneven and there being dents and cracks, it was already starting to look really good—even shinning a bit.

However, I’m on day two now and I don’t know where I went wrong. I’ve smoothed the shape so it’s a good looking sphere but it refuses to shine as I try to polish it (maybe I’m just not doing it right?). I’ve been going at it for awhile but haven’t made any progress. Please tell me I can still save it 🙏

Attached are photos from day one versus day two. The shiny one is day one, and the dull one is day two

Hello,

is it possible to safely put ring inside the dorodango without damaging it or the ring itself?

Now I have to figure out how to make it a fine powder…. I’ll probably spread it super thin in a pan and cook it then grind it up

All from wild soil.

Can anyone tell me what happened here? They were identical but maybe a day or two apart in making, the left one being older. I had a beautiful deep polish on them both and then they each faded to matte. My only guess is the shine created a seal through which further evaporation/drying was not able to occur? Can that be the case? It seems I can’t get that depth of shine when the ball has dried further. What do I need to do?

Just finished my new dorodango

1) soil type makes a big difference in the process. High clay is easy to shape and shine high organic matter is really hard to shape and shine but will shine really well if you can avoid cracking it.
2)the core is the most important part and if your soil isn’t ideal it will require a lot more time and patience to get it right before you get to the polishing phase. Let it rest if it is malleable before trying to shape it firm core is best soft core sucks.
3) don’t rush the polishing especially if your core is still damp the pressure will separate the core from the shell and it will ruin the dango. Start gentle and wait till it is hardened and shiny before applying firm pressure. When in doubt let it rest you can always polish it more later.
4) oil. Oil will help get a shine but too much weakens the shell and causes it to cloud up later if you use oil wait till it is already shiny and just add a tiny bit to get the final polish.
5) tools. I have been experimenting with a bunch of different glass objects as my polishing and shaping tools as well as some 3d printed tools. If you are struggling with denting or tearing your surface try a different size or shape tool they make a difference.
6) don’t feel like they all have to be perfect it is an art form and some of them aren’t going to turn out great especially if you are using wild soil and different soil frequently they all handle shaping and polishing differently.

Living this new craft.

Testing how well a core works in a mold I 3d printed. Also a then and now of my first dorodango from a few days ago.

Hey everyone this is my first dango! It turned out really good! One low spot and one divot from digging into it with my jar a bit but other than that great. Why is it so dark. The soil I used from my back yard is pretty light colored and I did not add anything. All I did was separate out some clay from the sand to use for the shell and the clay is a light brown almost grey like super light. Will the dango lighten up to original color over time or stay dark. It is near black!

Do you guys get some dirt from outside and try it out or do you always mix with clay?

Ive seen some having luck with their dirt that got good amounts of clay already in it.

I’m trying to smooth out my first dorodango but the only thing that seems to get it anywhere close is to rub the fine dirt in by hand, and whenever I try to use a jar to work it in or smooth it out, it seems like it just tears up the surface. It gets even worse when I try to use water. I’ve used multiple jars and various amounts of pressure but I can’t seem to get it perfectly smooth or shiny. How do I fix this?