[jaci]

I'm betting that the larger press is sucking out more heat than the smaller ones you use and you have to find your 'happy place' with it. This makes sense with the bead that is only cracked on the coral not the raku, because it appears that the raku was spot heated and twisted (correct?) that color is not only floating on the surface blocking the coral fromthe heat (much like a brimmed hat in the sun keeping you cool) but is always closer to the heat source. The coral below even partially exposed is taking in heat and being robbed of it by the cooler core. The cooler core of the bead becomes it's own heat sink. The simplest way to explain it is comparing it to making a too big bead on a hot head. Eventually you get so big it becomes hard to melt in surface applications and get a good smooth surface, even though it seems like you should always be able to melt the outside surface, at some point the heat is just being absorbed and not melting in. And by big on a HH I mean I tried to make a shifter knob one day just cuz... On the HH..... Ya. Anyways, you just have to find your happy place lol. This technique in steps is probably still possible if you keep the baking soda part to close to the very end if you don't want to heat the bead too much. You might have to rethink the raku application for some.