Step 1:
After unpackaging the moss, gently pull apart the fibers with your hands, loosening them. This will make applying just the right amount of moss much simpler. You can also use a spray bottle to mist the moss with water. This will soften the fibers of the moss, making them more flexible which will, in turn, make it easier to stuff them into the topiary frames.
Step 2:
Stuff the moss into the frame until the moss becomes firm.
Begin packing the damp moss into the topiary frame. Don’t be afraid to pack the moss in quite firmly. The moss should be dense in the frame. When you press on the moss with your hands, you should not be able to easily insert your finger into the packed moss.
In order to press the moss even more firmly into the topiary art forms, you can use a wooden dowel like the one pictured below. This is also a great tool to use to push the moss snugly into the tighter or smaller spaces of the frame, and it can help you fill in the animal’s details. Continue packing the moss until you can’t see any blank spaces and the fit is tight all around.
Steps 3:
Once you are done stuffing, use a scissor to trim around the topiary frame so that the moss does extrude past the frame.
Once you have packed all of the moss into the animal frame topiary, you may notice that the topiary doesn’t look quite as neat as you might have imagined. There will probably be stray pieces of moss sticking out here and there. This can be fixed by trimming away the loose moss pieces with a pair of scissors. Make sure to follow the curves and angles of the topiary frame in order to stay true to the image you’re aiming for. Cut as close as possible, but be careful not to cut into the moss that’s already in the frame.
If you do cut a bit too much, however, it’s nothing to worry about. You can simply add some more moss, using your fingers or the dowel to push the moss in. This is also a good opportunity to look for any gaps in the moss you may have missed when you were first stuffing the topiary.
Step 4:
You may wonder just how much moss you’ll need to completely fill the animal frame. A good way to approximate what you’ll need is to look at the size of the frame. One cubic foot of moss will generally fill eight to 10 mini frames that are less than 10 inches tall. That single cubic foot will also fill three to four small frames that are between 10 and 14 inches. The same cubic foot will fill one medium frame, between 14 and 24 inches, as well. However, large topiary frames, between 24 and 36 inches, will need at least two cubic feet of moss each.
