ABOUT

A few months ago, I was approached by James Sutton, who has been leading the redesign of Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor costume for the upcoming “Circuit Breaker” multimedia event, to create a collection of rings for the character.

What began as a relatively straightforward commission quickly evolved into one of the most technically challenging and creatively rewarding projects I've worked on to date. Over the course of the project, I produced ten rings in total, with two ultimately being selected for the final costume. The collection was designed to feel ancient, worn, and alien - something that could plausibly exist within the world of Doctor Who whilst still functioning as practical, wearable jewellery.

Each ring began as brass and copper sheet before being CNC engraved with Gallifreyan patterns, from a newly developed version of the language created by content designer Connor Cahill-Hayes specifically for the project. From there, the pieces were hand formed, soldered, textured, and aged individually, allowing every ring to develop its own unique surface character and finish.

Although metalworking and prop fabrication are already central to my work, this project pushed me heavily into the world of jewellery making — an area I had not previously explored in depth. Throughout the build process I developed and applied new techniques including bezel setting, traditional ring forming, hammer texturing, and fine finishing methods in order to achieve the right balance between handcrafted realism and an otherworldly aesthetic.

One of the final designs, featuring a round blue stone setting, was directly inspired by the ring worn by William Hartnell’s Doctor, subtly connecting the design language of the Fugitive Doctor back to the earliest era of Doctor Who. Creating this piece required learning bezel setting techniques from scratch, making it one of the most involved pieces in the collection.

An important part of the project was ensuring the rings functioned not simply as costume accessories, but as durable wearable jewellery. Every ring was constructed from solid brass and copper with long-term wearability in mind, rather than being treated as lightweight display props.

The final collection includes both the rings selected for the finished costume, as well as several unused developmental designs created during the process.