Graphite Powder is Awesome. Messy, but Awesome.

I applied the first layer of graphite powder to my bifrost sword blade last night. This is essentially an "underlayer" of graphite, so it's not expected to be perfect (I definitely learned that I must not touch the blade with bare fingers prior to applying the powder - every fingerprint will be found).
All that remains is one more clearcoat followed by a final application of graphite powder once the clear has had time to dry, but not fully cure.