Connie Jensen

I have just got back to the bench after many years of working with beads and threading. I've renewed my hall mark at the London Assay Office and finding most of my skills easy enough to bring up to scratch. I used to work mainly in silver, with occasional 9 carat and 18carat gold. Now I am struggling with sizing rings in three colours of 9 carat.

My first commission is to make a ring with three different colours of 9 carat gold. Three rings which will be soldered together to make a wide band. I used a chart to calculate the length needed for size Q, (64 mm) but found it really awkward to cut off the tiny wedge shaped bits produced by cutting with shears, without eating into the length. The rings ended up as P and although I managed to stretch the white one, the red and yellow rings remain stubbornly at P and a half. I may well have to reorder and start again. Should I order an extra 4 or 5 millimetres (and add a millimetre to get to the actual size I want)? Any suggestions gratefully received! I thought I read on Betts website that they sawed gold wire exactly to size, but can't find it now- does anyone know if that service is offered by any dealers?