[kbinkster]

One thing that helps when applying silver leaf is to burnish it in before encasing. I make a base bead, like a barrel, and roll it onto a piece of leaf. Then, I take a flat ss spatula and really rub it on and smooth it (burnish). I heat up a gather of clear and encase. I typically do not heat the base bead with the silver on it until it is encased, otherwise, the silver will burn off. You can use this to your advantage. You can put silver onto a bead and then put dollups of transparents here and there on the silver and then heat it in the flame. Only the silver covered by glass will remain. Neat effect.