I was also thinking of raffia.  It's actually long, thin pieces of palm
leaves from Madagascar -- but would simulate hay pretty well. As Christine
Mouw mentioned, you may want to cut the pieces, and then you will want to
roll them between your palms to make them round. Raffia (at least the real
stuff) also dyes very well if you want to yellow it a bit.

You can find it in most any craft shop in synthetic and natural varieties,
but weaving stores (esp. for baskets) or chair caners carry more variety and
better quality.  Although organic, it is clean -- it's the same material
used in many pieces of furniture and objects displayed in museums!

Good luck,
Mary


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary Preis
[log in to unmask]