Well, I figured it out! I got me beads freed from their toothpicks. A few minutes of heat from the heat gun did it!
I went to http://www.glassattic.com and read all that I could on varathane. I found that when you heat varathane that the bubbles that can form in it usually will disappear. I thought that I would try heating the beads and then pulling the toothpicks out. I really did not want to put the beads and styrofoam block into the clay oven so I tried the heat gun. At first I brunt some of the toothpicks and then pulled the beads off. It worked! I also had luck with using less time on the beads with equal success. (Just becareful of burning you fingers.)
Here are the beads.
I really like them and now have to figure out how to string them.
I have been making none round beads and decided that I wanted to make some of them shine by covering them with varathane. They look really nice but I have a new problem.
I first put the beads on toothpicks and then dipped them into the varathane. I then placed the toothpicks into a piece of styrofoam to dry and hopefully not get drips.
Well, I don’t have any drips but I now have beads stuck to toothpicks with dried varathane and don’t now how to get them off!
I tried to gently pull the beads after loosing the varathane “seal” around the toothpicks. All that got me was one broken bead. (At least I have more that I can bake to replace that one.) I have tried twisting the toothpick but all that achieved was braking the toothpick inside of the bead. (It is hard to string them with wood in the middle.)
I will check with other websites (like Glassattic) and see if I can find any suggestions and then see what I can come up with. I am sure to figure this all out with time.
Atleast I am learning somethin new today!