Artist uses pressed plant leaves to create beautiful collages

Artist Helen Ahpornsiri uses pressed ferns leaves and stems to create intricately beautiful illustrations of birds, insects and other creatures. Each delicate piece consists of hundreds of pieces of pressed fern, assembled to form shapes that are sometimes no bigger than a coin or a pencil stub. The completed illustrations are so colorful that they look more like embroidered patterns on fabric.

Helen studied illustration at Falmouth University, and went on to work on several projects – greeting cards for Marks and Spencer, paper flowers for Harrods Knightsbridge, and bespoke menus for Coach. However, her love of paper cutting and collage inspired her to take on the fern project.

“When drawing a Fern Weevil in ink one day, just for a personal project, I wondered if I could create one with a real fern,” she wrote. “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!”