When I want to print to Aluminum, I send it out. There's a service called "Aluminyze" that does this (it's all they do).
I'm also told Costco does prints on aluminum but not in-store, they send out (I'm guessing they partnered with Aluminyze). I am no longer a Costco member so I haven't used or seen these ... I've only been told about them.
They can print on sheets that are either bare aluminum or coated with a white base-layer. They also offer an option of glossy or matte. The glossy/matte is obvious, but the bare aluminum vs. white base-layer is bit less clear. Since there is not "white" ink in a printer, anything that should be white simply means the printer doesn't apply any ink at all (or if it's nearly white it applies very little ink). This means you actually see the bare aluminum showing through. With the right kind of artsy print, it can be a cool effect. But for most prints, the white base layer is the option that will render the most accurate looking print.
My favorite from Aluminyze is the glossy w/white base layer.
There are all kinds of mounting materials... matboard, styrene, foamcore board, gatorboard, etc. and you certainly can get types of baseboards that are unlikely to warp. I did once order a print mounted to gatorboard and was disappointed becasue the gatorboard doesn't have a perfectly smooth service. So the print ended up showing the rippled contour of the gatorbaord mount (it wasn't a smooth gloss finish that I had expected.) I almost felt like I needed to have a double-weight matboard mounted to the gatorboard (to provide a flat finish) and then mount the print to the matboard. Anyway, I never ordered it again.
Also be aware that there are places that print "metal" vs. "metalic". True "metal" should actually BE metal (like aluminum). There are "metallic" papers that have a specular finish (pearlescant finish) and a lot of variety in this category (metallic from vendor 'a' will not look the same as metallic from vendor 'b' ... so you freally want to know exactly which metallic paper is used if you order it.)
I ordered sample packs from Red River paper as well as Moab paper so I could check out the papers for myself and decided which one I'd prefer to use. Some of the vendors have more than one metallic choice.
For example, Moab papers has "metallic pearl" and "metallic silver". They're both metalic (specular finish) but the "silver" is actually a grayish paper. It'd probably look awesome if you were printing something that was meant to have an "industrial" look -- probably in B+W. The "pearl" is, well... pearl (looks just like a pearl ... with the specular shimmer in the white finish.)
Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da
