A sea of Mandrels

Well we have made a heap more beads tonight. Lets hope some of them are not too bad. If you don't let them cool down slowly they suffer thermal shock that is they shatter. To circumvent this one of the options is to place the hot glass in warm vermiculite which creates a warm little pocket which gradually cools down and the bead slowly cools down which helps to mitigate the thermal shock.
Crossing my fingers.