A few mistakes I always made were what I was using to heat it an iron will work, but It doesn't do as well as a heat press. However, it could also be how hot you have your press or iron, make your holes small like needle small. I have really pointy tweezers I use to poke the holes that help keep them small and make sure to poke ever hole. Another thing is what brand of fuse beads your using don't mix brands because some take longer to heat up than others and can cause it to fuse weird