My recommendation is to spread it out very thin. If you tie it in clumps, the lower moss will die off and turn brown, causing the upper moss to not be attached and float away. I tied mine on as single strands, putting several single strands in a row and using 1 piece of thread to tie all them on. Do this several times over all parts of the item you want it to attach to. Then let it spread on it's own. Also, once it get's kind of long, trim it real short again, this will help further thickening of the moss. I did this 2 times when it got in excess of 3 inches, I cut it back down to an inch. Then after the 2nd trimming, I have not touched it since other than ripping some off to send to others who wanted some moss.