Because I often make many small beads, I pretty much always take the beads off the mandrel. I would anneal them as 'bead skewers'. I will wash out the bead release before. First few months, I was careful not to let them touch, etc. However, after I needed a way to anneal a whole batch of a hundred headpins, I needed another way. I put them in a pyrex dish, all on top of each other, and it worked just fine. I now do the same with most of my beads. With beads made with silver or silver glass, I will still skewer them, and make sure they are not touching. They can give of a bit of yellow stains on other beads. With marbles, I do not batch anneal, but just toss them on the bottom of the kiln without anything else. Never had beads stuck together, breaking or anything.
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