Do-do-do Dorodango
Josha Newman's post about Dorodango has gotten me playing with mud. A Dorodango is a polished ball made of worked earth. As near as I can tell, you create a sphere out of damp earth and work sand and dust into the outside. As the moisture moves out from the center, it collects micro-particles that can be made into a shiny surface. The end result can be quite beautiful.
My first dorodange fell apart in my hands. My second one got to a dull shine, but had some big pits in it. I'm going to take another shot at it soon. I'm looking forward to a real dorodango, plus it gives me something to do when we watch TV.
PS. One drawback of Dorodango. Apparently "Dorodango" is Japanese for "mud dumpling". It's pretty hard to be cool when you're talking about your mud dumpling.
My first dorodange fell apart in my hands. My second one got to a dull shine, but had some big pits in it. I'm going to take another shot at it soon. I'm looking forward to a real dorodango, plus it gives me something to do when we watch TV.
PS. One drawback of Dorodango. Apparently "Dorodango" is Japanese for "mud dumpling". It's pretty hard to be cool when you're talking about your mud dumpling.
posted by Tony - 4:20 PM
1 Comments:
We have a lot of red soil here for two reasons. One is the mountains nearby are a rich source of iron. The second is possibly more interesting for dorodango reasons. A large part of this city is made of brick rowhouses and factories. Demolition crews haul the bricks and mortar fragments off to salvage, where whole bricks are recycled into use by rehabbers, and broken ones are ground into a fine clayey red sludge used to help pack driveways and prevent mudslides.
On a rainy day, much of this reddish yellow dirt runs into the bay and colors it a dull orange. It's frightening, and must do the fish harm in some way. But it could be put to some good use in the dorodango world. Maybe I can become rich by buying up the red clay and selling it to dorodangists (dorodangologists? dorodanglers?) to make handsome, fiery orange-red balls.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home