Can you melt glass beads

Fire the clay like glass, not clay. The problem with melting glass on clay is the coefficient is different. Glass will craze, (crackle) on the clay. If you want the glass to stay on the clay use high fire clay and fire it to bisque first. The second firing with the glass on it should be fired on a schedule that is suitable for the glass. You can not simply fire the glass up to it's melting temperature then allow it to cool without controlling the cooling rate. You may want the rate to be 60ºF/hour to cool depending on the type of glass you are using.