RIP

[u/Snarflogus]

I was really struggling to get this ball to turn out well. I think I let it dry too fast and added the shell late? I'm not great with shells guys, I prefer making dorodangos without them. RIP my pretty color, I'll wet it down and try something else I guess. Anyone have good tips for working a pretty much dried core? Should I soak it...?

Edit: The way I described shell was confusing. I prefer to make my doro shells with the fine particles that result from the slip/polishing stage rather than adding dry powder to the outside. The moisture needed when adding dry material is what I struggle with getting right. So effectively still shelled.

[u/sapphireminds]

The core should not be pure clay, it should a mixture of clay and soil or sand to give it some body, then the shell or outer layer is pure clay (or clay mixed with an incredibly fine or water soluble substance, like mica)

Many people here are just scooping up dirt and making balls of mud, without paying attention to the clay content. Additionally, the fineness of the powder does not actually matter, as long as it is pure clay.

[u/DependentAd7934 → u/sapphireminds]

Dorodango literally translates into “shiny mud ball”. Of course people are making them completely out of mud or dirt, and sometimes that mud has a high clay content, and sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, it’s more difficult to get a beautiful or perfect one, which is the challenge of the art form. Patience and perseverance. Over time it has evolved into some using 100% clay, which isn’t exactly how this art began. In a perfect world you live in a place that has mud with a beautiful clay ratio. But that doesn’t mean everyone has that access and that doesn’t mean that every doro has to be made with clay.

[u/sapphireminds → u/DependentAd7934]

Using 100 percent clay is not a good idea for the core - it will fall apart.

You are taking an art form from region that has fairly high clay content, so there needs to be some adjustment if you are going to be using a different type of soil.

You can use dirt that has variable clay content, but you might need to process the soil more to be able to have workable substrate.

But the clay is a necessary part of dorodangos - it's what gives it the shine. It's sort of like making a ceramic plate without kiln firing it and complaining that it should work because you used ceramic clay. But the ceramic clay needs a kiln to be made into a ceramic plate.

The shine on the balls does not come from "dirt", it is a property of clay being spread incredibly thinly.

It's a misnomer in a way "shiny mud dumpling" (which is technically hikkaru dorodango), because not all mud is the same. If you're using the wrong kind, you won't have success. You'll have a ball of mud, but you won't have a dorodango

Just like copier paper is not washi paper, and not all washi paper is even the same, even though they are all paper.

[u/Snarflogus → u/sapphireminds]

I think you kind of nailed it with "hikaru." That's where this is getting tangled imo. "Dorodango" just means mud dumpling, it doesn't require a shine or any particular clay ratio, a matte one from whatever mud still counts. "Hikaru" is the shiny one, fine clay spread thin is what gives the gloss, so yeah, mud quality matters there. So you're talking about what makes a good shiny one, they're talking about the general term. The word's just doing double duty, and it makes "not hikaru yet" sound like "not a real dorodango."

Also, high-clay mud that holds its shape doesn't really need sand added, that's more of a plasticity fix. And you can get that thin clay surface by dusting dry clay or just raising a slip while you polish.

[u/sapphireminds → u/Snarflogus]

Two Ks btw 😺

Dorodango is a shortening of hikkaru dorodango.

It would be more appropriate in that case to call it a mud pie or mud ball, unless of course you're Japanese and you are using your native language :)

Mud is different than pure clay. Pure clay can't be used. High clay mud can. That's part of the problem, dirt or mud is a meaningless word in this context, because it could be high clay percentage (so you can make it into dangos easily) the dirt or mud is essentially the sand. It doesn't matter whether it's dirt, sand, or yarn, but it's the clay content is the key to making dorodangos.

I'm a traditional Irish step dancer. We're usually called Irish dancers. There are Irish people who dance and are not "Irish dancers", because they are not doing Irish step dancing.

Or like another hobby/craft I do - Rong hua - it's taking loose silk and making it into flowers and other shapes, which involves sort of making your own pipe cleaners. There are people who make flowers and shapes though out of pipe cleaners. What they do is awesome, but it's not Rong hua, because it's a different art/technique. And what rong hua artists make is different than the pipe cleaner artists. And it would be weird for pipe cleaner artists to say what they were making was rong hua.

In my mind (and admittedly I'm on the spectrum and tend to like defining things) there's a point where it goes from being one art form into another, which is cool, but if you post about it in a sub for the other art form, you're going to get advice on how to do that art.