Great Big Story shows how an expert dorodango maker makes beautiful shiny balls of mud. It requires starting with a mixture of a clay-based mud, straw, and water. "When you begin to polish them," she says, "and they begin to shine, they are living creatures coming to life." There is even an annual dorodango tournament in Japan.
When Carla was editor of Craft magazine, she ran an article with a dorodango how-to.
Image: Great Big Story/YouTube Read the rest
The finished piece he makes is such a delight, but so is watching it come together from spare scraps of wood. Read the rest
“Added some epic wings to accompany my previous Perler Bead Armor set,” says Cosplay Amy. Holy cow this is beautiful and extremely committed. It's so gorgeous. Read the rest
Japanese specialist paper manufacturer Hidaka Washi Ltd makes the world's thinnest paper using 1,000-year-old methods.
The paper is then sent to museums and libraries around the world—including the British Museum and the Library of Congress—and is used to restore and protect books and works of art.
Zenji Funabashi creates colorful animals scultures that lock together in all sorts of fun ways. Imagine the satisfaction of sliding the pieces together. Read the rest
There's something very delightful about pressing a nice metal stamp into perfectly cooled wax. The YouTubers at Calligraphy Masters gathered up some of their favorites. Read the rest
15 or 20 year ago Japanese schoolkids started making shiny balls out of mud (dorodango). Now people have figured out how to make shiny balls out of aluminum foil. They look very cool! To make one, you crumble up an entire roll of aluminum foil, then compact it with a hammer. After that, you have to polish it with increasingly finer sandpaper and polishes. It's a lengthy process, but that's the point. Read the rest
Plotters with precision cutters certainly make glass etching easier that making stencils by hand, but it's still very labor intensive. Read the rest
Kazuaki Harada creates lots of charming and funny hand-cranked automata. Read the rest
Linda at Eponases creates all kinds of cool cross-stich projects, but this massive piece of Pokemon characters is out of this world. Read the rest
John Bisbee spends his days turning common steel nails into wonderful works of art. This short documentary by American Craft Council tours his Maine studio. Read the rest
John Kobuki demonstrates the remarkable patience, dexterity, and craftsmanship required to spend 40 minutes shaping a clear glass sphere with a flower inside. Read the rest
Yumi Okita creates strikingly accurate and colorful moths and butterflies from thread and felt. Read the rest
Ribbonesia specializes in gathering, twisting, and tying ribbon into vibrant animals, plants, and other sculpted forms. Some are complex like this dragon and peacock. Read the rest
Chris Isner was a regular guy until an ayahuasca trip gave him clear instructions on creating a trippy style of bas relief wood sculptures. Read the rest
YouTuber TheCraftMaiden decided to make a Harry Potter Golden Egg, and it's a triumph of winging it when trying a craft project. It even has a turnable owl to open it. Read the rest
Yulia Brodskaya (previously) creates beautiful textured portraits by tightly folding and quilling colorful paper and affixing it upright on a flat surface. Here's a timelapse of her piece Girl with peacock earrings. Read the rest
