What do you think the object in this picture is?
Believe it or not, it's a mud ball. Or, as it is called by Fumio Kayo, a dorodango - the shining mud ball.
Reading how to make it shows that it takes an extremely long process (a few hours) and lots of patience.
Towards the end, he mentions that, "If you continue until the ball begins to shine, you will get a better finish, but the risk of cracking also increases."
Sounds a bit like refining items in (MMO)RPG games ^^; Try to get it to too high of a level and you risk the item breaking.
Learn how to make a dorodango here. (Site is in English)
