Moss Art — Build Your Own Moss Table (5 Steps)

DIY-ing My Own Moss Coffee Table…

… was a challenging yet rewarding experience.

I was always inspired by those mini bonsai landscape gardens that I remember seeing my aunt have in her room filled with traditional Korean art and furniture. Often times, they had moss laying around some rocks. I want my home to have personality, and as someone who is really interested in traditional methods of healing, I thought this was a great way to add more of “me” and mother nature into my home.

I learned how to dry wood more properly, how to prepare moss for DIY crafts, and how to stain and finish coffee tables. I also learned what not to do, so I’ll tell you all of my DIY moss mistakes so you don’t have to make them for your moss art projects.

Below was my step-by-step process for making my moss art table:

Step 1: Secure wood slab

I happened to have a slab of wood after clearing some trees in my backyard. I was blessed with a beautiful shape, but if that’s not an option for you, there are a ton of wooden slabs you can find online if you search “wood slab cookie”. There should be a ton on Etsy.

There are also some that have no cracks while others may have some as it naturally happens when wood dries. Raw wood naturally has water just because it was once a living thing, but it’s also what happens if you’ve left it out exposed to the elements.

Mistake #1 to Avoid: The surface area dries a lot quicker than the inside of the wood, which is what causes the cracks. So if you’re drying the wood yourself and don’t want the cracked effect like I had (which kind of defeats the purpose of the moss art coffee table), then I advise you seal the wood properly.

Mistake #2 to Avoid: Do not leave your moss out and exposed to the elements! Wood is porous so it will bring the dirt on the surface into the wood or the water will go deep into the wood and create mold. If it’s too embedded, no amount of sanding the wood can get rid of it — which is what I had to live with (see later images for how much water damage it got.

Step 2: Forage Moss

You’ll probably want to do this around the same time you’re securing your wood slab because it’ll take time to dry and prepare your moss. You can also buy this as well, but moss for art is expensive!

I’m pretty sure the moss variety I found was the Dicranum Scoparium because they look identical to the photo describing it online and it grows on the floor or rocks near pine trees, which is exactly where I found it (on the floor)! This moss is popular for crafts because of its deep yet vibrant green color. It’s honestly the most beautiful moss I’ve seen and it reminded me of some luxurious fur. The rhizoids (aka roots, but not technically roots) of this variety are super thick and long, which isn’t great for plopping on top of the coffee table, but was great for separating and sticking into the cracks of the wood.

I’m also not sure if I used a different moss variety but it looked like mixture of the Dicranum Scoparium and something else — I found it on top of a rock so it had much shorter rhizoids, which made it great for bending around the edge of the coffee table from the side to the top of it, and it created a more natural “moss-growing-on-table” type of look (see Step 5 photo below).

Make sure to use gloves and bring a basket or water-proof bag to collect your moss! Also, have the dirt-side of the moss pieces touching the dirt-side, and moss-side touching the moss-side so that you don’t get more dirt on the moss.

Step 3: Prep Moss For Crafts

I did a ton of research to try to understand how to preserve moss, but often times the videos were very different from the variety I used. Since the rhizoids are so thick, it takes a much longer time to dry. Still, I’ll share the resources I’ve used to learn how to dry moss and how to dye moss as well.

Materials: vegetable glycerin for crafts, warm water, green food coloring, a rock, a sheet to hold down your moss in the water, and a large container.

Directions:

1. Pick the pine leaves and other debris — be careful, there will likely be bugs hiding out of your moss! I saw spider eggs embedded in the rhizoids.

2. Leave your moss out on a surface that has ventilation underneath. If your moss doesn’t have that much mass to it and is flimsy, then I’d suggest getting a netted metal sheet to place on top of your moss to get it to dry in its original flat shape. Keep it in a dark, dry place.

3. Once dried, rub off the excess dirt. Don’t confuse the dirt for the rhizoids of the moss.

4. Add 1 part glycerin to 4 parts warm water and add food coloring. Use a bright, green food coloring (mine was too dark and it totally washed our to vibrant, neon-like color. Place the rock and sheet (if applicable) on top of the moss to keep it submerged and wait a little under a day (not too long or mold will grow).

Mistake #3 to Avoid: Don’t try to preserve it without dye - the natural color will fade because you’ll need to use warm water so that the glycerin mixes in with the water.

Step 4: Prep Coffee Table Finish

Once your table is dry, sand the surface if needed, and wipe the surface clean with a damp cloth to get rid of all of the particles.

Then, use 3 coats of Danish Oil. I used the Watco Danish Oil in Natural as it works well on pine wood. It brought out the natural rings of the pine wood beautifully.

I then finished it with a water-based polyurethane by Varathane to protect the wood from further water damage. This stuff is not good to breathe in so I highly suggest opening a window for some ventilation. I applied around 2-3 coats of this.

Step 5: Glue the Moss

I used a hot glue gun to simply glue the rhizoid side of the moss onto the cracks as well as on top of the moss. This one was pretty straightforward — use your best judgment and let your artistic eye shine!

I initially filled in just the natural cracks of my wood, but it made the placement of the moss looked a little spare and random, so I glued on two big lumps on the side and top of the coffee table to make it look more natural.

All in all, this was a super fun and moss art project. Do you think I should add more moss lumps to my table? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think of if you have any questions and good luck!