Were your mandrels wet with water before you dipped them in the release? Even a little bit? This will cause what appears to be cracks in the bead release. Because when you dip, you are trapping that water between the bead release coating and the surface of the mandrel. Bead release air dries pretty fast, and if the dipped mandrels happen to be anywhere the air is moving like an open window or a fan, it dries even faster, of course. The quick drying of the outside surface of the dipped release simultaneously while it is still absorbing this excess water inside will cause it to crack. The cracks appear to be "squiggly".
How do I know this weird stuff?? Many years of dipping hundreds of mandrels a week, and trying just about every brand of bead release out there. Dry weather, damp weather, hot, cold, distilled water, tap water, you name it, I've done it. But this one thing with the mysterious cracks took me the first 7 years of my beadmaking career to figure out. About 3 years ago I figured it out, and I started making sure my mandrels were completely dry before dipping. Ever since then, I have never seen the cracks again.
