Hi - I'll try and help you out! I too am on a Hot Head, and love to use precious Gold Leaf!
One DEFINITE tip I'll give is to burnish the gold into the bead after rolling it and before putting it back into the heat. Use your graphite marver, or if you have one of those little "spatula" shaped tools (I think Avenue Beads has them for sale now) - this will help a lot!!!
In addition, do not bring the bead back into the FULL FLAME; keep it warm under the flame and have your clear in the flame but the bead below it while encasing it. This will also help with the burn off.
Here's an example of how I was able to get the gold leaf to adhere well and encase before working it in the direct flame again; the clear will protect the gold from burning away and be sure to do a full encasing and then melt it smooth slowly:
I actually WANTED it to break up under the pressure of the Skull Stamp, but it didn't give much!
Hope this helps you a bit!
De in CA