An Easy Way to Create Pressed Ferns

Do you have plants growing in your garden or landscape that you’d love to capture and extend that beauty? Stop time and just hold it closely? That’s what inspired the project that I’m sharing today. A pressed fern project for you to enjoy or to gift.

I was watching a video from a gardener I follow. I was awestruck as he took ferns from his garden and talked about drying those ferns, pressing and mounting them.

There before my eyes were prints that extended the beauty from that garden onto canvases.

That idea of extending garden beauty became a plan.

I have the most beautiful ferns that were gifted to me by a friend from her farm. Sensitive Ferns she called them. My husband diligently brought them home and planted them in the perfect spot along the borders of the woods surrounding our property.

They come up year after year. A little fuller and thicker and are stunning.

Away from the harm of the lawn mower or weed eater or pruning shears–they stay unscathed.

Perfectly shaded and with enough drainage that they stay happy.

Can I tell you that this idea was a near the end of the season project? and those ferns were just not at their best. But to gather the best ones I could was how I began.

A trip to Office Depot for a large pad of newsprint paper to press them into was the next step in the process. Then weights of books were placed on top and tucked under a bed in a guest room out of view for the duration of the “pressing process” to take place.

The first round of instructions said a minimum of six months…

Well…it had been longer than that, so, now was a perfect time to remove them from their drying and try my hand at the next step to mount these.

Can I tell you when I pulled those pressed ferns out for mounting that they were so dry and brittle that I was back to the drawing board?

My second attempt at a new method to press ferns didn’t fare any better.

Mod Podge has a spray that was recommended to spray on leaves to seal them.

Yeah, well…guess what it did to those dried ferns?

I’m sure you guessed it…

It rehydrated them. All of the moisture from the spray put them back to where they were before they dried. I was back to square one. No longer did they lay flat for mounting. They were full and back to their original glory.

Added that to my DO NOT DO AGAIN list.

I realized that my experience in pressing leaves like I did for those school projects from elementary through high school would serve me well again.

Here’s the EASY method that I created and WORKED for pressing ferns to mount:

• Snip fresh ferns the size you want, making sure that the leaves look intact.
• Place brown paper over your ironing board to prevent wax from coating the cover.
• Lay your ferns carefully between two pieces wax paper.
• Carefully place the wax paper on top of the brown paper on the ironing board.
• Add another piece of brown paper over the wax paper to prevent wax coating on the iron.
• Heat the iron–no steam–and carefully iron the fern between the brown paper and wax paper, coating the fern with wax and sealing. TIP: I carefully lifted the brown paper and flattened each stem before ironing to ensure that it was not twisting as I ironed.
• Flip over and make sure that you iron the back side.

Now that the pressed ferns were flat and sealed with wax, I could begin the next step.

• Carefully remove the waxed paper from the back side of the fern.
• In a well ventilated area (outdoors), spray the back side of the fern while it is still attached to the waxed paper on the front side.
• Flip over and position on whatever you are mounting it to. I chose burlap canvases.
• Press down and rub a nylon scraper or credit card over the fern through the waxed paper. You will notice it lifting from the fern.
• Be careful to remove the waxed paper gently–ensuring that the fern stays on the mounted surface. I loved the burlap because the fern looked embedded into the fabric.
• A layer of mod podge over the surface will seal it and keep it protected.

That’s it!

A year of wrestling in getting pressed ferns to give me the look I desired, COMPLETED!

My problem now? I love these so much, I think I need more of them! I think I’ll press more of them next time…these are too good not to share as gifts.

Who knew adding beauty from the garden into my home would be so easy and rewarding?

I just solved your Christmas shopping. You’re welcome!

If you need more ideas for gifting from the garden, you can find them here and here.

If you need help finding what I used, here’s affiliate links for your shopping convenience. (The links cost no more for you, but, help this little blog cover some of the costs to share.)

3 M Super 77 Multipurpose Adhesive Spray

Burlap Canvases-12 x 12

Burlap Canvases- 16 x 20

Craft Paper

Wax Paper

Nylon Scraper