Reply #1 - December 16, 2007, 01:48:57 AM
Ed, I would need to do a little more research on it, and I have not tried any prints like this myself, but here's a little info.
Maxima has a line of albums in their Nouvea collection called Eclipse (the covers are etched aluminum) that I got to see and hold at our IPPA convention in Oct. They were very nice in my opinion and have a very cool and unique look. The process of the etching involves a laser and can be controlled to very extreme precision at the hands of a talented individual. It is a practice that has been used for part marking in metal manufacturing and assembly environments for years, it is very proven and has lots of up-to-date cool tools and advanced software. The etching is very permanent, however it could be buffed off with some patience with something as common as a scouring pad or steel wool (this may also be a fun way to add your own 'touch' to it). Also, scratches may show up in it very easily; especially in the darker areas of an image. To my knowledge, this would only be for black and white images, I do not know of a way to do color images with the kind of control a photograph would need on a metal surface; but then what would be the purpose of the aluminum anyway. I would warn about doing this on just any metal, not all metals will maintain their 'look' over long periods of time like aluminum and a few others.
Travis
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