Dragonscale Jewelry

27/02/2026

By late February I think we’re all a little tired of winter. The gray. The cold. The way the light feels thin and distant. I find myself wanting Egypt right now — that vast sky, that blazing, unapologetic Sun. I need that kind of solar power with the kind of warmth that goes straight through to your bones.
This piece is Sekhmet in the form of an aegis — a protective devotional image meant to be worn or displayed. Sekhmet is the lioness goddess of the Sun: fierce, radiant, uncompromising. She is both destruction and healing, the burning heat of noon and the power that restores balance. And right now I’m thinking big golden cat in the Sun.
An aegis traditionally shows the head and collar of a deity, creating a protective presence — almost like carrying the goddess at your throat and heart. Her broad collar here is woven of lotus blossoms, tying her directly to Hathor. The lotus, symbol of rebirth and rising light, softens her ferocity with renewal. Where Sekhmet blazes, Hathor embraces. They are not opposites — they are continuums of the same divine force.
Right now, I am leaning into that lioness heat. Into strength. Into light returning. Into the promise that the Sun always comes back.
Come on, Spring. 🌞
You can find her on our website in bronze at https://www.dragonscale.com/products/sekhmet-aegis-5344b?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web or sterling silver https://www.dragonscale.com/products/sekhmet-aegis-5344s?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web
or in our Etsy store in bronze at https://www.etsy.com/listing/1181402878/sekhmet-aegis-5344b or sterling silver https://www.etsy.com/listing/1189794033/sekhmet-aegis-5344s

24/01/2026

we’re f*cked

23/01/2026

23/01/2026

Dear Friends of Dragonscale - We are based in a very small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western Virginia. It usually takes an extra day to get the outgoing mail onto the major shipping routes even at the best of times. This weekend we are expecting a Winter storm that is predicted to be anywhere from really bad to considerably worse. This means that its likely that the mail will be slowed down even further until our roads get cleared. Please understand and be patient with us. We and the USPS will do the very best we can to get you your purchases as soon as we can.
Thanks.... Maya / Dragonscale

18/01/2026

I'm feeling proud of myself this morning. The first part of January is always somewhat slow for us. People are usually exhausted from all the holidays so there is time to get caught up on things. A friend nudged me to do something I've been putting off for a while so what better time than now. Those of you who have visited us in person at our various shows, are familiar with our rune charms. I originally designed them a while back, but I haven't put them on our website until now. So this was the week, and now I can proudly say WE HAVE RUNES ON OUR WEBSITE. Just the bronze ones for now, but the silver ones will be going up soon. If you don't see the one you're looking for its because we are out of stock at the moment, but we'll be casting more this coming week.
Please go check them out and let me know what you think. https://www.dragonscale.com/collections/norse-runes

11/01/2026

11/01/2026

Good morning – I thought I’d take an opportunity to tell you a little about us and how we make the jewelry. Dragonscale Jewelry is made from beginning to end “old school”. Every piece begins with an original carved in wax by me or, occasionally, my husband, Phillip. I carve them in hard wax, by hand, with tools most of which I’ve made or altered myself from old dental tools. No AI generated images, no 3D printing. Just me doing it by hand. Then we cast that original. We do it by the lost wax casting method heating the metal with a torch and pouring it into the flask. That original is molded and the mold used to create multiple copies – again in wax, again molten metal – lost wax casting. When they are cooled, we finish them using grinders and lastly tumblers to achieve a shine.

This is how we both learned the trade 50 years ago and Dragonscale has been a thing since 1988. This is what we’re good at. And this is how I can guarantee that the items we sell are personal, original and only contain hot cast solid metal. They aren’t base metal that’s been plated or coated. Just natural honest shine. This is how I can guarantee that they contain nothing but solid metal so no one has to worry about nickel allergies or the finish flaking off. This is how I know that, with a little care with a polishing cloth, the piece you buy from us should be good for years to come.

05/01/2026

Sheela-na-Gig is a medieval stone figure found primarily in Ireland and Britain, dating roughly from the 11th–13th centuries. She is depicted as a n**e female figure prominently displaying her v***a, often carved above doorways, windows, churches, castles, and bridges. These carvings, from the Middle Ages, are architectural grotesques found throughout most of Europe on cathedrals, castles, and other buildings. The greatest concentrations can be found in Ireland, Great Britain, France and Spain, sometimes together with male figures. Ireland has the greatest number of surviving sheela na gig carvings. Despite her stark appearance, she was not marginal—her placement suggests significance within everyday and sacred spaces. Her origins are debated. Some scholars see Sheela-na-Gig as a survival of pre-Christian fertility or sovereignty symbolism, linked to ancient goddesses of birth, land, and life’s generative force. While others argue that she functioned as an apotropaic figure—meant to ward off evil, danger, or death—using shock and exposure as protection. She can be seen as as a liminal figure: guarding thresholds, marking transitions, and reminding viewers of life, death, and rebirth. Medieval Christian readings often cast her as a moral warning against lust, yet this explanation struggles to account for the care, visibility, and widespread repetition of the image. They are not something you would expect to see in a church, and a sizable number of them have also been found in castles, holy wells, bridges, culverts, and pillars as well. She sits at the uneasy crossing of pagan memory and Christian medieval culture—neither fully erased nor comfortably explained—embodying the raw, unavoidable power of creation itself.

We are seeing a resurgence in this image in the present day. It resonates because the modern world is finally ready to see what Sheela-na-Gig was always doing—telling an uncomfortable truth. For centuries, female sexuality was controlled, hidden, moralized, or weaponized. Sheela does the opposite. She is unapologetic, frontal, and unashamed. In an era reckoning with bodily autonomy, consent, reproductive rights, and gender power, she feels radical rather than obscene. Sheela returns as the archetype of raw life force—birth, decay, sexuality, death—things sanitized out of modern life but increasingly impossible to ignore.
We’re living through large-scale transitions—social, ecological, psychological. Sheela is a threshold guardian. She appears at doorways and boundaries, precisely where cultures feel unstable.
In short, Sheela-na-Gig isn’t popular because society is becoming cruder. She’s returning because society is becoming more honest.

You can find Sheela in both bronze and sterling silver in our Etsy store https://www.etsy.com/listing/584216366/sheela-na-gig-7502b or https://www.etsy.com/listing/598013059/sheela-na-gig-7502s. Or on our website at https://www.dragonscale.com/products/sheela-na-gig-7502b and https://www.dragonscale.com/products/sheela-na-gig-7502s

28/12/2025

Years ago, a friend who lives in Ireland sent me a photograph of a panel on the Kells Market Cross. It had special meaning for him and thought I might want to do a pendant of it. This High Cross dates to the 10th century and was originally called the “Cross of the Gate” as it was originally located at the eastern side of Kells Monastery. The figure struck me as an unusual figure to find on a large Christian cross. Since then, I have done some research and found that scholars are of the same mind. Sources cite that stone crosses show the transition of sun-oriented symbolism into Christian iconography and how older sun-centered symbols evolved into the familiar ringed “Celtic cross” forms seen on standing crosses.

The Lord of the Beasts on the Kells Market Cross can also be seen as a syncretic image, pointing to ancient older Celtic and Indo-European roots, interpreting it as a survival of the Master of Animals archetype—a liminal guardian who mediates between the human and animal realms, embodying fertility, protection, and cosmic balance. blending pre-Christian Celtic symbolism with early Christian theology. Many see him as Cernunnos. Cernunnos was perhaps the most important deity in the Celtic religion if we consider the frequency he is represented in ancient Celtic art from Ireland to Romania. Known as ‘the horned one’, he represented nature, fruit, grain, animals, fertility, and prosperity. To some scholars, the figure represents Christ as Pantokrator or Christus Victor, emphasizing dominion over creation, with the animals signifying the ordered natural world under divine authority.

However you see this, it is an intriguing image. After more than a millenium, it touches the spirit and asks what story it finds in your heart. Available in sterling silver or bronze in our Etsy store - https://www.etsy.com/listing/4340800716/lord-of-the-beasts-kells-wild-man-7501bor on our website https://www.dragonscale.com/products/lord-of-the-beasts-kells-wild-man-7501b

26/12/2025