About the Artist

Meet Eldermother, and explore a world of nature, folklore, and creativity.

I'm Clare, the artist, maker, and musician behind Eldermother, based in Stroud, England.

Eldermother is where I bring together the various things I love to make and explore - jewellery, photography, music, nature, history, and folklore. I run it alongside working full-time in marketing for a jewellery company, so it's very much a labour of love and a place where I can follow my own creative interests.

I also have ADHD, which may go some way towards explaining why I've never managed to stick to just one creative pursuit!

Jewellery

I create handmade jewellery inspired largely by the natural world, from delicate earrings to more elaborate gemstone talismans.

Macramé features heavily in my work, using hand-woven knots to create settings for gemstones, pendants and other details. I also make resin pieces containing real fungi and botanicals - preserving tiny specimens and turning them into something that can be worn and enjoyed for much longer than they'd ordinarily last.

Much of my work is one-of-a-kind, and I enjoy letting the materials influence what a piece eventually becomes rather than designing everything to a fixed formula. I also create custom pieces, so if you have a particular gemstone, idea, or colour palette in mind, you're always welcome to get in touch.

When the mood takes me, I make larger macramé pieces and wall hangings too.

Photography

Photography gives me an excuse to stop and properly look at things.

I love photographing dramatic landscapes, ruins and historic buildings, but I'm equally happy crouched on the ground trying to get a macro shot of a tiny mushroom or flower. I'm particularly drawn to interesting light, texture and atmosphere, and to capturing places as they felt to me at the time.

I shoot manually on my trusty old Nikon D3500 and try to get as much right in-camera as I can. Most of my photographs only receive fairly minimal editing afterwards - for me, the enjoyment is in being there and catching a moment that won't happen in quite the same way again.

I sell prints of my work online; feel free to have a look!

Music

I'm also a singer and harpist with a Master's degree in Music.

For over 16 years, I performed with the gothic metal band Edenfall, releasing three studio albums and playing extensively around the UK before the band came to an end in 2025.

These days I write and release dark folk music under the Eldermother name, centred around voice, harp and piano and occasionally joined by cello and guitar for live performances. It's given me the chance to explore a quieter and more intimate side of my songwriting, while still indulging my longstanding love of darker sounds and stories.

A Common Thread

Although jewellery, photography and music might seem like fairly different pursuits, to me they all come from much the same place.

I'm curious about the natural world, the past, folklore, traditional crafts and the stories we attach to places and objects. I like making things slowly and by hand, noticing details, learning how things were made or understood in the past, and finding ways to bring those interests into everyday life.

Eldermother isn't about living some perfectly curated, permanently slow existence - I have a full-time job, too many interests, and an ADHD brain, so that would be somewhat optimistic. It's more about making a little room for curiosity and creativity, and appreciating things that might otherwise be overlooked.

If something I've made, photographed, written, or discovered sparks that same curiosity in you, then I'm very glad you're here! 🖤