Hi Karla,
Maybe it's how much iris gold frit I have on the transparent brown? I make a small ball of glass at the end of a rod, then roll it in the iris gold and cook it into the brown to white-hot, then I flatten with mashers and I heat and roll in frit again, flatten in another direction and then roll in frit again.
I work on a minor and two oxycons and work about 4 inches out of a 8 inch flame - it's an oxydizing flame (blue).
Thanks for the nice comment about the rubino beads
Hope that helps and you get some success soon!
Cindy