Thank you all for this dscussion - it made my day this Saturday I had all beginner's supplies in hand for about a couple of weeks but could not get rid of the fear that the glass will shock. I am not new to working with glass and had some good burns while soldering a SG lamp as well as deep cuts but thermal shock seemed to me as something completely different and much more horrible. And the prepared mandrels were just waiting as well as the lovely glass...
But after reading this topic (twice, frankly speaking) I decided to try. Didn't want to stay alone with my fear anymore and wanted to join you, brave and creative. Spent half a day to provide as safe corner as possible, screw the canister support, etc.
Well... Managed to produce 2 pretty ugly beads - uneven, when I was doing the first one my hands were shaking, the glass was peacefully melting but I was waiting for some disaster, forgetting to rotate the mandrel evenly... "LOL". But when I took them out of the blanket and laughed looking at them I realized that all I now want - to go on.
But I will anneal them in the kiln and save for shaking the bead release