One other question, if I may. How do you prevent the nori from cracking? Should it be made a bit damp to allow it to bend?

if your having problems w/ your nori snapping on you....
then chances are, your using relatively high quality nori x] lolz
i say change brands if your really worried about it >.>''
buut keep in mind
wet nori is just like rubber >.>''

The nori is just what I buy at my nearest Asian supermarket. It's nothing too expensive! I tried making onigiri again the other day, and they seemed to work out better than previously. The shapes were, shall we say, iregular, but they tasted good. I made some with umeboshi and others with bacon and egg - my English breakfast onigiri!

Onigiri is terribly easy to make, and somewhat easy to mess up. First, you need to make sure that you are preparing the rice properly. The most important thing is to wash the uncooked rice before using it. You put the rice in a strainer and run water through it while scrubbing the rice with your hands; when the water from the bottom of the strainer runs clear, then the rice is ready to cook.

Washing the rice makes it more tacky, meaning it is easier to eat with chopsticks, and it will hold it's shape when you make onigiri (nori will also stick to it more easily). To prevent the rice from sticking to your hands while shaping onigiri, you need to wet them (your hands) with water.

Plain onigiri is somewhat flavorless. I like to add ochazuke (a kind of soup mix) to the rice before shaping it. Tarako (cooked cod roe), smoked salmon, or tuna salad makes a good stuffing for onigiri. You don't need to wrap the onigiri with nori until you are ready to eat it, the nori tastes better when it is crisp.

I have tried making them with rice prepared as for sushi, or sprinkle some shichimi togarashi over the rice. I'm not sure that I have ever seen ochazuke.

Ochazuke is a rice flavoring made from green tea, spices, nori, and bits of dried fish. Normally, to make ochazuke, you mix the flavoring in a cup of water and then pour it into a bowl of cooked rice. You end up with a kind of rice soup. The soup is good, but onigiri made with ochazuke is much better.