Hi Rhonda I don't use fine molds. All my work is hand cast for shape only and then finished with brushes and other tools. I'm never trying for a super smooth finish and I do use a very dry mix to keep maximum strength. But you can get a glassy smooth surface with a runnier mix or a trowel.. Perlite mixes do some odd things. You would expect them to get dryer as the dry perlite sucks up moisture but they don't. They tend to get runnier as time goes on so you have to be very careful adding water. Like a superplaticizer mix it can become liquid in a hurry. As for bug holes, I don't get those in my mixes but I do get small flat surface imperfections that are easily removed with a brush. I can't explain them. I suspect they are caused by my home made release oils. That said you can't go wrong by trying this Perlite. It's cheap and if it does work out it works great in the garden as a soil lightener.:)

The original Hypertufa recipe was portland cement, sand and peat moss. You can substitute Perlite or Vermiculite. Oklahoma doesn't have bales of peat moss for gardening? Some garden centers carry compressed coconut hulls, in a dried brick form. Billie

Kimberly, I strain mine through a fine wire collandar when I want to pick up a lot of detail, such as leaf castings. I just pick out the sticks and roll it between my hands for containers where I like the extra brown when initially cured and the larger voids as it decomposes. Each consistancy fills a purpose! Experiment and enjoy! Leigh

Greetings from Jamaica tropicdude I gave up trying to find, or afford, perlite, peat moss, vermiculate or even sunshine mix for that matter. I turned to papercrete which uses recycled paper, always available and with no cost. Here a few of the things I worked up this summer: http://s1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff364/JamaicaPeg/Projects%202010/Papercrete%20projects/ Not sure if my mix gives you the porous natural look you are after. I use a 2/1/4 recipe, but i have seen recipes that use up to 6 parts paper which may give you that porous look. Something to think about. Keep warm!