I painted the tubes with semigloss spray paint (no blank painting yet), light 0000 steel wool sanding. Sounds sexist, but I think the black tubes makes the blank more suited to a guy. Apology in advance if that offended anyone.
I have "re-found" a desire for mesh or dot blanks; people ask for 'em once they see one. They are still hard to predict from blank to finished tube, but oh well.