Questions! Wirewrap ends and strange beads

[Kalorlo]

I made these earrings with some lovely 12mm tigerseye rounds I got from Harrow and 0.8mm brass wire (next time I probably want to make the earwires a bit thinner... they're wearable for me fine but it was a little disconcerting putting them in the first time!).



The question's about the second pic - as you can see, when I was wrapping the very end of the wire above the bead, it went flat against the wire being wrapped instead of coiling round it, and because it was so close to the bead I couldn't get my pliers in to push it back up. I've had this problem before, particularly with thicker and stiffer wire - is there a way to avoid it? When I got right to that end I was needing quite a bit of force to bend the wire at all, and it went the wrong way!

My other question is about these beads I picked up from a stall selling various old and vintage beads. I'm fairly certain they're glass - they look and feel like it, and they have some chips and dents. I've never seen anything quite like them before, but on the other hand I haven't been looking! Anyone know anything about this style of bead?