I love telling stories

BA in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Studies.

[folklydesign]

🌸⚔️Flower-shieldmaiden ⚔️🌸

[folklydesign]

trust the process

[folklydesign]

getting back kind into drawing again

[folklydesign]

Upcycling old art - Nephthys, goddess of family and mourning

[folklydesign]

☀️💐Today is the first day of spring over here, and I couldn't help myself from becoming inspired. This illustration is inspired by ancient pottery fragments that is either Egyptian or Syrian, it is not entirely sure. I also added stars and specific herbs. 🌿 Chamomile, clover, rosemary and passionflower. 🌺 I wish you and the earth a healing spring.

[folklydesign]

völva

[folklydesign]

I made a Valentines animation ♥️ Sir Valentine is inspired by the card Three of Swords (one of the most beautiful tarot cards) and medieval knights. I just got this crazy idea that I would make you guys a pretty Valentines card 💌. Hope you like it 🥰 I've been up all night figuring out how to animate this. Very proud.

[folklydesign]

~* Wrath *~ Sansa Stark as a harpy. There's a quote I read many years ago in the book capsulating the birth of female wrath: "My skin has turned to porcelain, to Ivory, to steel." ​They told her she was a little bird, so she became a creature of the sky, just not the kind they could cage. Female wrath is rarely born; it is forged. It is the ghost of a small girl with big dreams, rising from the ashes of the innocence they stole, now wearing talons where her silk ribbons used to be. I worked on this one for many weeks, learning about lot in the process. Hope you like the outcome 🌸🐦

[folklydesign]

✨ The Star: Salme’s Celestial Choice ✨ ​In Estonian myth, Salme was born of a miraculous egg and grew into a beauty so radiant that the heavens themselves descended to woo her. She turned away the Moon’s silver and the Sun’s gold, seeking a love that was constant rather than fleeting. ​Ultimately, she gave her heart to the oldest son of the Northern Star, choosing the steady, guiding light that never wavers. In the Tarot, Salme perfectly embodies The Star: she represents the quiet hope and divine clarity that emerge after a storm. ​By dressing her in the traditional coastal attire inspired by the Rannarootslased, I wanted to ground her celestial spirit in the earth and sea she left behind. Like The Star card itself, she is the bridge between the heavens and the home, a steady, guiding light dressed in the patterns of her ancestors. ​Let Salme guide you toward your own "North Star". Trust the light that leads you home. 🌌🌟

#tarotcard #illustration #history #Salme #thestar

[folklydesign]

If the horrors persists, so shall we 🌟 In my whimsical art nouveau and art deco era.

[folklydesign]

🌟Growing up, I was the one with my head in the clouds, obsessed with the small details no one else saw. After years of letting critique from my professor at art school (that I was "predictable and mediocre"☠️) hold me back, I’m finally drawing for me again. No chasing stats. No trying to be clever. Just creating the safe, beautiful place I need when the world feels too cramped. The recent Aurora in the North has me wishing I could just drift up there and sleep amongst the stars for a while. ✨ It isn't perfect, but it is at least mine.

[folklydesign]

🦄 Sometimes, you have to let the old version of yourself "lose its head" so the new you can finally take flight. 🐍I’ve always been fascinated with the moment in Greek mythology where Pegasus is born. We usually think of Medusa as just a monster, but her end was actually a beginning. It’s one of those grim details in mythology that actually holds a beautiful lesson. According to Hesiod’s Theogony, the winged horse didn’t just appear out of nowhere: he sprang from Medusa’s neck the moment Perseus ended her, born from the very thing that had to be destroyed. His brother, the hero and future king Chrysaor was born at the same time. I created this piece to visualize that specific shift. I didn't want to focus on the gore of the battle, but rather on the release. A reminder that your greatest opportunities are often trapped inside the very habits you’re scared to end.

[folklydesign]

🌿"Unable to perceive the shape of You, I find You all around me. Your presence fills my eyes with Your love, It humbles my heart, For You are everywhere" 🌊

Ask and Embla 🌿 The first man and woman according to Norse myth. Odin and his brothers walked the shore of their newly built Midgard and found two logs washed up by the sea: an ash and an elm. Odin breathed life into them, Hönir gave them mind and movement, and Lodur gave them feeling and form. From driftwood, the human story began. Myth has a distinct fondness for the idea that we come from nature first, which i have a soft spot for. I also added a runic poem that is from a carving into a wooden weaving knife from my home county originating from the time between viking age and early medieval times, is says: Mun Þu mik man Þik un Þu mer an ÞRr, which would mean "Think of me, I think of you. Love me, I love you". I wanted them to look as outerworldly and ancient as love feels.

[folklydesign]

~* The princess and the dragon *~

As the quote goes: "the most dangerous woman of all is the one who refuses to rely on your sword to save her, because she carries her own". ⚔️ I drew this inspired by all the brave women out there in the world. Never let the dragon win 🐉 ♥️

[folklydesign]

~* Bj 581 *~

We will never know her name or life story. She was buried during the later parts of the Iron Age in Birka. Buried with a big armoury and two horses, she was surely someone during her life. This is one of those controversial topics within archaeology which has sparked a huge debate about women and warfare, usually with the terms shieldmaiden and valkyria tossed around. I wrote an essay about it, and I put this illustration as the cover. It is based upon what was found in her grave. In the memory of the world she was walking around it's fields just a moment ago. Fascinating.

[folklydesign]

~Father~

"Svenalde and Tora and Åsa let raise the stone after Björn, their diligent father. God help his spirit and mother of God" - This is not a real text, but almost. It is inspired by Sö 7, a runestone in Södermanland Sweden. I have only changed the names of the children to have it fit my illustration, as well as I have taken the runestone carving of the man representing the father from stone Vg 32.

I wanted to make a timeless depiction of children and their longing, but in a more hopeful and loving way rather than mourning. There are two sides of that coin always. Svenalde, Tora and Åsa are spending time with their father by his memorial, and it is timeless in a sense that these children could be ancient as well as modern, even though their clothes might whisper of the Iron Age. This drawing is also inspired by one of my favorite drawings by Carl Larsson of a Viking woman by a runestone.

I really enjoy making these more sketchy types of drawings as well lately.

[folklydesign]

Hi, I’m Elin (or Moose). I photograph and draw, inspired by archaeology, mythology, folklore, runes, megaliths, folk art, tarot, and Art Nouveau. 📜🌿 Soon MSc in Archaeology, with BAs in Archaeology & Cultural Heritage. Museum experience and a lifelong obsession with ancient sites. RA led me from traditional painting to digital art. Happy to be here.