How to add Patina to lume before application

[saswatch88]

Hello fellow watchmakers,

in the photos attached you will see a white and black dial which was re lumed using pre mixed patina lume in a syringe nothing was added. It has the perfect matte powdery looking finish like vintage radium lume but color is too orange almost like a yellow ochre, i added instant coffee to the mix before application on the dial in the case, has a better color like a burnt sienna but it has a gloss to it. Iam not a fan of using varnish so I need to figure out a way to get the finish of the orange lume with a color more like burnt umber....as an artist umbers have a bit of green and them, so adding anything to the original mix gives a yellowish brown color. Radium lume looks more like burnt umber.....I was thinking of using match green tea powder with the original mix hoping it won’t add a sheen to it. When I search online all I hear about is coffee (which is usually added after application) and baking. I can’t bake a porcelain dial and coffee isn’t giving me what I need. I did hear someone using cigar ash or graphite anyone have any suggestions.....burnt umber color with a matte finish.

[WatchMaker]

First thought is watercolour blocks which come in a huge array of colours and would give you the matt effect as well as fine control over colour. They can easily be ground to a fine powder and added in small quantities to a mix.

Also consider that a constituent of umber is iron oxde ... or rust. Making your own rust powder is easy enough and I would think provide a better matt finish than coffee powder.