Assembled with patience, imagination, and a steady hand, Helen Ahpornsiri creates intricate pressed fern illustrations of honey bees, pheasants, magpies, spiny seahorses, weevils, moths, Totoros, and other creatures. Watch her assemble the miniature fern bee above, and a tiny robin, below, in time lapse.
Ahpornsiri studied illustration at university, but inspired by paper cutting and collage, her fern illustrations began as experiments. In an email, she writes:
“When drawing a Fern Weevil in ink one day, just for a personal project, I wondered if I could create one with real fern. I already had some beautiful fronds from a Japanese Painted Fern pressed and waiting to be used for something. I have been collecting, pressing and making ever since!”
You can see more of her work (we also love these birds made from stamp collections) on her site, @HelenAhpornsiri, and at Etsy where she sells prints.
Update: She also has a book! Drawn From Nature.
Try these videos next: Irving Harper’s Works in Paper and Kelli Anderson’s Paper to Plants.This Webby award-winning video collection exists to help teachers, librarians, and families spark kid wonder and curiosity. TKSST features smarter, more meaningful content than what's usually served up by YouTube's algorithms, and amplifies the creators who make that content.
Curated, kid-friendly, independently-published. Support this mission by becoming a sustaining member today.