Chilled

I generally use Seventh Generation Free and Clear during the cooler months because it doesn't have a bunch of unnecessary filler in it and doesn't dry out my skin. Probably 5ml per bottle, more or less depending on how it tacks. 
 
Hot weather months I use baby shampoo because it has a higher wax content to slow down the tacking. 
 
Also the pump up bottles are over rated. The geometry puts too much pressure on my hands if I use one all day. The el-cheapo zep bottles at HD are my favorite. 
 
As @Tintguy1980 says rince em out if you're not using them everyday otherwise wax will settle and build up, getting stuck in the trigger especially. I'll keep mine flushed and filled back up with plain water, but I also run em out daily.

Proper way to clean any spray bottle used for installing window film is to dump unused at the end of each day, thoroughly rinse, and set upside down overnight to drain and dry.

Residuals of many soaps used by tinters can and will build up on the internal surface of these bottles and congeal over time only to release as tiny globules and show up under the film.
 
Someone can chime in and point you to slip agents best suited for installing film and lessen the production of these specks. Even so, it is still best to rinse each and every time you are finished for the day.

Felt doesn't have enough rigidity to push out the water....and it scratches by the time you start trying to lay pressure on it.

Just rince it and let it dry. I wouldn't use it for installs. 90%chance it will scratch the film anyway.
 
For installs, I could use this basic few tools all day and not really need much else. The yellow turbo is a "dark yellow". It's softer than the standard yellow that seems to leave chalk marks on everything. 
If you want to spen a few more bucks to get some more leverage and cleaner sweeps the orange crush is pretty forgiving.
 
These are the random tools I reach for when shrinking. The top left sphear I used for 15ish years and just snapped it a few days ago.
 
The grey card below it is probably my favorite unless I'm shrinking something big. Works great for doors and light curved rears.
 
Below it is a random bondo spreader with a strip of ptfe tape(amazon).
 
The other two are cards that I just put monkey/bananna strips on. Nobody needs all that crap. Any one of those would work fine, even the one I snapped.

CS is the bottom end used mainly to satisfy cheap a$$ customers and dealerships. Ceramics of about any flavor are more rigid and the Crystalline is it's own pita. It's like streaching a pool liner and marks real easy if you touch it while it's hot or even too warm. HP/metallized is the lowest quality you should be learning on. Easy to shrink/install without all the nuance of dealing with a finicky product.
 
Your shrink looks normal. It won't stay pinned unless you actually install it. When I wet check I usually only leave it for 5-10min to see if a finger shows up before installing and to mark it with a grease pencil to cut on a separate work panel/glass/peel board/whatever you want to call it.

Fwiw the Global/Express and Xpel HP films are about the easiest on market to shrink. Also have the hardest scratch coating. Nothing will make your blood boil like installing a piece of film and pulling it back off because you scratched it during the install. 

This is excellent advice. I think the HP 20 is about the best example of how a good film should shrink and handle. It's also a quality product that can be used professionally. 
 
After dry shrinking (with soap/babypowder/dryer sheet or whatever) lift the film, one side at a time, and flush with water then squeegee flat to see if any fingers are present. This is wet checking.
 
Don't be afraid of wetting the felt on your hard card to push water. It's one of my preferred methods. I wouldn't use it when installing on the inside however. You can get replacement strips for pretty cheap somewhere (monkey strips / bananna strips)

Night and day difference. CS is a very thin film that burns or creases easily, CR can smear the adhesive between the layers if not heated properly. CR isn't a particularly thick film either, it's about average really. I'm not familiar with how their CIR compares since I dropped 3M a couple months before they finally released it. As far as 3M films that have the logo stamp they do that on Obsidian, Color Stable, Ceramic IR, and the Crystalline, however there have been documented instances in the past of that being copied on the fake CR film some have gotten in the past. As far as shrinking goes in general it really does come down to practice and experience. Don't rush it, especially as someone just looking to learn the trade, impatience is your enemy in this business. Shrink the film slowly and really pay attention to how it reacts to the heat and you'll learn to "read" the film, for lack of a better way to put it. Experiment with the distance and angle of your heat gun and how that effects the film as it's shrinking, eventually you'll develop the technique that's going to work best for you. Starting out you're going to waste a lot of film, it is what it is and part of paying your dues so to speak. You can get a shorter roll of film from express window films that's good quality and more affordable to learn on if you're serious about pursuing this. 

Those type of skills come with time.  You have to get a feel for how the process works and how the film acts before you will understand the advanced shrinking techniques.  
 
You can search the lift & pull method and also the different dry shrinking techniques.  

The film is the Ceramic IR. I know not cheap, dumb pick for a first try. When i was choosing it, was full of oblivious optimism(ignorance) with "How hard can this be?" And was thinking maybe i would loose 1 piece to practice, one of the cars needs to be re-tinted, perfect project.
 
Boy did I get humbled quick on the first shrink attempt. Gotta admit, now im actually more interested learning/figuring this out.
 
Care to share some of those advanced tips? Or have any good links to read/watch.

I'll just add: don't over think it and don't set your expectations too high, too early.
 
Nobody masters shrinking in a short period of time. After almost two decades of training newbies, I haven't had one that mastered shrinking in the last two days of practicing as many times as they wanted.
 
And like Dano has said, be careful with heat guns around windshields; they are laminated glass and it's exceptionally rare for a windscreen to be made laminated tempered glass. At most it is heat-strengthened because heating is required to shape the glass. Heat strengthened will crack if the glass surface temperature exceeds 100 degrees F difference between center and the glass edge.

No it will not be perfectly smooth until you install it. It's now curved to meet the shape of the glass.

If you leave it on the outside of the glass it will pop up from sitting, that's normal. If it's installed and a finger shows up you can push it down and warm up the glass a bit. Streaching it a little on install will help too. Whatever you do don't try to heat up a windshield too much or it will crack...especially if you shock it with cold water.

After shrinking with dry soap or baby powder lift the film and spray with water and squeegee smooth. This is referred to as wet checking. If you find any fingers after a wet check, shrink em. 
 
Put a light inside the glass and use a grease pencil to trace out your pattern and cut your film on a piece of glass that you don't mind to sacrifice. I usually find an old sliding glass door (tempered only) and use it til it's grooved and useless, flip it over and use the other side. Eventually replacing it after a few years.
 
Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Cheers, but I doubt a distributor would give me the time of day to that kind of a question.
 
Given the number of Pro's and dealers here, I would of thought it would have been a fairly simple question and answer. 
 
Cheers tho.