Last a month ago was the perfect month to make mud balls. We were planning to give them to my wife for mother's day but we ended up doing other things for her. June was when my son and I set our minds to make mud art for my wife. It rained a bit in the in the beginning of June but we had many sunny days. On the day that we were ready to go into the back yard we picked a spot. Next to the fence by some moss, was a small patch of mud where the grass receded because of the shade. Armed with some old kitchen tools, a plastic bag, a medicine cup, cardboard and beach toys we began crafting mud spheres.
It was not just any mud balls, these were going to be special. We used a technique called Dorodango. We clumped the mud and shaped it round with the medicine cup. We crafted three balls. On sunny days we gathered dust put through the red filter pan. The sandwich bag prevented each ball from drying out too fast, or unevenly. Early attempts were prone to cracking. In the beginning we started off with three but trial and error destroyed two. Finally, after weeks of partially drying the ball and adding fine thin layers of mud and dust, we were done.
It was on the counter and for a couple of days until my wife suggested that we smash it because the humidifier may melt it back into mud as she noticed that it began to lose its shine. My son said no he wanted it forever. That day I taught him a lesson on impermanence and non-attachment. We talked about those things and I showed him how cool it would be. We went outside and he threw it against fence the over the moss patch. It hit the fence but it to our surprise it did not become a cloud of fine dust, instead it fragmented and held together quite well until between the combination of rain and sprinklers the pieces finally melted back into the patch where the grass receded. Back to the source from which is came. All in all I was able to spend time with my son share my philosohical thoughts on non attachment before we smashed it and had a ball.
For reference on this project we loosly followed http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Hikaru-Dorodango,-or-Shining-Ball-of-Mud