After a 6-months hiatus... once more into the breach, dear friends!
I followed the advice of folks here (thanks all!) and switched up my glue. I used fish glue, which is water soluable. I switched to oak so I'm using a hardwood.
With practice, I'm also getting better at leaving more wire exposed above the wood during the inlay process. This means that theres more wire to sand, and expand with the sanding.