People in Japan are turning aluminum foil rolls into shiny balls.

The trend took off in early March after Twitter user puchuco709 tweeted a picture of a glossy ball that was made by hammering and polishing aluminum foil.

After puchuco709's post went viral, people in Japan started sharing their own versions of the project on social media.

There's something satisfying about seeing each wrinkle in the aluminum foil disappear as the ball gets shinier and shinier.

This recent trend of turning aluminum foil into glossy balls also shares similarities with a Japanese art form called "hikaru dorodango," or "shiny dumpling."

In this tradition, people shape mud and water, not foil, into gleaming balls of dirt.



People in Japan are turning aluminum foil rolls into shiny "metal" balls, and it's mesmerizing to watch.

According to Bored Panda, the DIY trend took off after Twitter user puchuco709 shared a photo of the project on March 1. The user, who makes silver accessories and Karakuri dolls, tweeted a picture of a glossy ball that looks like it's made of some solid metal. But according to the tweet, the user created the ball by hammering and polishing a 52-feet-long roll of aluminum foil until it was perfectly round and shiny.

After puchuco709's post went viral — it currently has over 199,000 likes on Twitter — people in Japan started sharing their own versions of the project on social media, according to Bored Panda.

In early March, for example, YouTuber SKYtomo published three videos in which he pressed, hammered, and polished several rolls of aluminum foil until they became dense spheres. In a recent post from Sunday, the vlogger even cut one of these aluminum foil balls in half to show that it was solid all the way through, not hollow like you might expect.

Screenshots from one of SKYtomo's videos. Courtesy of SKYtomo

It's clear that people can't get enough of the trend — there's something undeniably satisfying about seeing each wrinkle in the aluminum foil disappear as the ball gets shinier and shinier. On YouTube, each of SKYtomo's aluminum foil videos has racked up tens of thousands of views. Many other social media users have documented their own attempts on Twitter. Some have even jokingly tweeted that they created shiny foil balls using a microwave, which you definitely shouldn't attempt.

In some ways, this viral trend calls to mind the internet's ongoing obsession with pimple-popping, cake decorating, and paint mixing videos. Over the past few years, each of these "genres" has amassed a huge following on visual platforms like Instagram and YouTube. Interestingly enough, they also all show something "imperfect" becoming perfect: a clogged pore gets pushed out; an unfinished cake is bathed in a shiny glaze; random colors mix together to form a beautiful, and unexpected shade.

This recent trend of turning aluminum foil into glossy balls also shares similarities with a Japanese art form called "hikaru dorodango," or "shiny dumpling." In this tradition, people shape mud and water, not foil, into gleaming balls of dirt. You can see how this process works in P2 Photography's video below, which was featured in National Geographic's Short Film Showcase in 2016.

Sign up here to get INSIDER's favorite stories straight to your inbox.