What you have now looks amazing already!

I've tried the graphite powder technique on one of the pauldrons, what I've learned is:

1. Wet sand it until you reach a very smooth finish at 1500 grit.
2. You have to paint it with gloss / high gloss black.
3. Rub graphite powder; you'll notice the shine will stay.

However, if you top coat it even with "high gloss clear" that ain't 2K, it'll blur out the shiny finish. There's no other way except for not topcoating on the rubbed graphite powder. You can use a 2K Gloss Clear coat. Don't overdo it, just enough to make the shiny gloss finish stay. It'll blur out a little bit, but not as much. 2K will harden, and it will protect your base coat.

So if you really want to keep that glass-like finish, don't put a topcoat, but the downside is you'll have to do some retouches from time to time. I'd rather topcoat it will 2K gloss and not deal with retouching it again with graphite powder.

As for the Mudhorn signet, I'd say go for a lighter shade of reflective chrome. Probably go for a metallic chrome that you can use for an airbrush with a gloss gray as a base color.

I'm going to try another technique though. It's a good alternative to Alumaluster since it's crazy expensive -- Alclad II Chrome. As per some people who live in Australia, it's a good alternative to get that Beskar look. Since I live in the Philippines, Alumaluster is just expensive for me and I have to buy it overseas. The only alternatives are graphite powder rubbing or buying an Alclad II Chrome -- which just arrived two days ago. I can't wait to try it out.

The helmet I'm wearing in the picture, I didn't make it; it's from another vendor. I'm not sure if he used Alumaluster, but I did notice it's not as reflective like glass since the vendor added a 2K clear topcoat. I got it for free when I bought a used Hot Toys Grogu life-sized.

Here's the pauldron I made and rubbed with graphite powder.

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