Lifestyle
Man Makes Beautiful Artistic Spheres By Only Using Dirt and Water
Omeleto, a YouTube channel that hopes to “inspire you to live a more purposeful life,” posted a video earlier this year that shows how artists take balls of mud and turn them into perfect, sculptural spheres. The technique is known as “Hikaru Dorodango,” and it originates from Japan. Artist Bruce Gardner introduced Omeleto to how he’s mastered this artform that he has the upmost respect for.
On Gardner’s website, he explains the process he uses to make the spheres in a bit more detail. To sum up his method, he creates a dough made of dirt and water and then makes the sphere while squeezing out water from the mud and “gently shaking it.” New dirt is added, the sphere is placed in a plastic bag and then the final stages of polishing begins.
Of course, the color and texture depends on the dirt itself. A variegated gray ball was formed from soil in Placitas, New Mexico, a deep green/nearly black shiny ball came from the Manzano Mountains and an auburn sphere was derived from Manzano Mountains mud.
Watch the memorizing process in the video below. You might be inspired to try it out for yourself with some Texas dirt!