No, I don’t know about Mike’s outcome. But to answer your questions, I’d suggest that shorter strands and/or pieces of coir will work better than long strands. Think about it – trying to incorporate long strands of coir and not have glops of it here and there throughout your object isn’t the best idea. Smaller/shorter pieces will of course stir in and mix nicely with the rest of the ingredients.

As far as other materials you might try … I’d not try straw. Of course I’ve never tried it myself, but I don’t think it’s the right thing to use. Never heard of anyone raving about what a great replacement for peat moss it is nor that someone had used it and was wanting to share that with everyone else. Same as shredded paper pieces – don’t use those. Some folks have used sawdust (make sure it’s from untreated lumber!), I’ve never done that either … so you might want to make a small experimental project to see how it goes.

I’d stick to the coir. There’s more postings around the ‘net on crafters being successful when using it.

Check out all the ‘tufa info on my main website if you’ve not done so already: “Hypertufa What?” introduction page with links to the other related hypertufa articles.

Have fun!