Join us at Inverleith House for a special event - the third in our Meet the Makers series - which will include artist Becky Little teaching you to make Dorodango: the Japanese practice of polished clay spheres.
Dorodango Workshop
Polished Earth Spheres with Becky Little (Rebearth)
Create and polish an earth sphere in this hands-on workshop with artist and earth builder Becky Little.
Working with prepared clay spheres, participants will refine and polish the surface by hand until it develops a natural sheen. Through a slow, attentive process, the workshop invites close observation of how earth responds to touch, pressure and moisture, revealing the qualities of the material as it changes in your hands.
Part of the Earth Matters exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, the workshop offers a chance to encounter earth differently—not simply as the ground beneath our feet, but as a material with its own character and possibilities. Through making and conversation, participants will explore how working closely with natural materials can deepen our understanding of place and reconnect us with practical skills that have become increasingly rare.
Please note, weather permitting, this may be an outdoors event. Meet at the entrance to Inverleith House, to attend the workshop held at Around a Tree. Seating will be available. If you have any access requirements or questions relating to this event, please email creativeprogrammes@rbge.org.uk.
Becky Little is an artist based in Fife, working with raw earth and natural fibres. With a background in construction and archaeology, her practice weaves together heritage skills, ecology, and contemporary art. Little is interested in how we live with and through materials—and how our making might shift from extractive and damaging to regenerative and reciprocal. Becky's work is rooted in place, using subsoils and fibres gathered locally and seasonally. Whether forming a hand-held sphere or a large-scale structure, the process is slow, embodied, and collaborative—with the materials, the weather, and the land. Little is drawn to the rights of nature, including soils, and to the idea of vibrant matter: that all materials are alive with story and agency.
Meet the Makers is supported by The Andrew Raven Trust and Edinburgh Geological Society.
Earth Matters is curated by Susanna Beaumont | Design Exhibition Scotland and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. The exhibition runs from 20 March – 1 November 2026 at Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and is free and open to all.
Earth Matters is supported by Players of People’s Postcode Lottery and Edinburgh Geological Society, with special thanks to the James Hutton Institute. The exhibition is part of Edinburgh Science Festival, Edinburgh Art Festival, RSA200 and James Hutton Tercentenary 2026.
Main image: Lynsey Wilson, Earth Matters Installation, 2026.