Metal Prints are a great addition to any home. They provide great detail as display pieces for any part of your house. Turn your plain old wall into a creative display gallery of your most precious photos. Metal Prints are the highest form of wall prints. They provide excellent quality, durability, and life span. It really is worth investing in for cherishing your most precious memories.
This article gives you a brief rundown of all things metal prints. This post also includes a short comparison between the different mediums of wall art. This shows that metal prints really are superior among all the other printing mediums.
Table of Contents
What are Metal Prints?
Metal Prints are modern and high definition pieces of wall art. These prioritize quality without compromising longevity. They are well known for being the toughest and most long lasting medium for Wall Art.
A metal print is a wall art piece that has a clean, modern, industrial, high-definition look. Metal prints utilize aluminum, with a variety of coats. This gives off vivid colors on any printed image. Metal prints are resistant to fading, moisture, and scratching. This makes metal prints the superior choice for both indoor and outdoor display.
These head-turning metal prints showcase your best photos in colorful hues. Printing photos on a metal piece gives your photo a striking industrial and modern touch to your walls. As a bonus, they do not require frames! Installation is a breeze, with a handy hanger attached to the back. This makes mounting these metal photo prints quick and simple.
These ultra-modern metal prints are the highlight of your wall art pieces and perfectly display your personalized photos. Make your wall art piece one of a kind with a variety of design options. Choose from a wide range of layouts, backgrounds, and custom texts.
Why Choose Metal Prints?
Designing your home with wall art is really a personal choice. However, metal prints stand above the other options because of their benefits. These include their appearance, life span, and most of all, durability.
Appearance
When deciding on your metal print, there are multiple options for the surface finish. Finishing options are brushed, true color, glossy, or matte. All of these already provide vivid colors and hues. This makes it a perfect design choice no matter what surface finish you opt for.
First, a brushed metal surface allows a silver basecoat to peek through. This enhances the natural metallic elements of the canvas. This is perfect for that classy and industrial look for your wall decor.
Second, a true color surface provides a white base coat for the metal canvas. Adding a white base coat to a metal surface helps bring the colors more vividly. This is ideal for high color contrasting images. Ensure your wall decor pops with lively colors by choosing a white base coat.
Next, a glossy finish is an additional layer for either a brushed or true color surface. This makes the images on your prints crisp and vibrant. This further makes your images pop and provoke any viewer. Turn those emotions from your images to a reality with this striking addition for a finish.
Lastly, a matte finish is also an additional layer for either a brushed or true color surface. This offers a subdued and muted look. Turning down a notch? This is the perfect choice for accentuating your furniture. This makes your wall pieces blend in with all of your display. The metal print keeps the natural vibrancy from its material even with this flat coating!
Hanging Option
Customized metal prints use a frameless design. This gives your photos a clean and modern look. The art is ready the minute it arrives. There is no need for framing or matting leaving you worry free.
Lifespan and Longevity
Metal prints are the most scratch and wear resistant among all printing mediums. They fare well against humidity and heat, outclassing the other print mediums. The following section details how this came to be. Understanding the process of its creation answers the question – “Why are metal prints durable and long lasting?”
How are Metal Prints Made?
Metal prints are made by a process called dye sublimation. First, we must understand the traditional printing process. The traditional method prints directly on the surface. This is not as durable as one thinks it may be.Traditional prints damage easily since they are essentially only on top of a surface. However, dye sublimation infuses the image directly into the hard coating of a metal surface. This provides lasting durability and protection as well as prolonging its lifespan.
First, an image is printed on a paper transfer media. Manufacturers use a giclee printer with specialized sublimation inks. These inks are specifically for metal printing processes. This print appears as a flat colored mirrored copy of the original image.
Next, this printed sheet is taped onto a blank metal photo panel. The metal photo panel undergoes a heat press. The heat and pressure turns the sublimation inks to gas. The gas is then absorbed through the pores of the polymer coating of the metal and into the base coating. As the metal cools, the pores close and the metal surface stabilizes.
Things to Consider with Metal Prints
The longevity and brilliance of personalized metal prints make them an increasingly popular choice for both home and gallery display. Consider the following key aspects for your chosen image.
Choose a high resolution image. This allows your image to have a crisp and professional look on the metal panel. Because the image is printed directly onto the material, a metal print becomes a permanent art piece. Unlike a traditional glass frame, swapping out photos is not an option. Be selective in choosing your image. Choose one that you’ll appreciate for years to come.
Metal prints are slightly heavier than other prints due to their durable material. We suggest hanging your metal print on a smooth and sturdy surface. Make sure that you install an art piece securely.
Durability and archivability of metal prints are the best. The surface coating is very tough and scratch resistant. Also, they are incredibly fade resistant. So, how long do metal prints last? The Rochester Institute of Technology tested metal prints to last up to 4 times longer than archival silver halide photographic prints. The lifespan of a standard metal print lasts for 150 and more years. Ensure this lifespan by learning the proper ways of taking care of your metal prints in the next section.
Metal Print After Care and Maintenance
In the previous sections, we discussed the lifespan and longevity of a metal print. Nevertheless, after care for these wall art is still notable. Here are the main points to follow to ensure the longevity of your display pieces.
1. Avoid Direct Sunlight
Firstly, sunlight is harmful to any type of prints due to the UV exposure it causes. Direct exposure to sunlight causes changes in color particularly fading.
Proper lighting can bring out the colors of these display pieces. Indoor light sources are preferred rather than placing your prints in areas that are hit with direct sunlight.
2. Avoid Wet and Humid Areas
Secondly, humidity is another factor for wall art deterioration. Humidity causes your prints to be subjected to vapor. Wetness affects the surface of the printing medium and with time, also changes not just the durability but also the color.
General tip for this is to display these wall art in air conditioned rooms if possible. Air conditioners regulate not just the temperature of the room but also the room’s humidity.
3. Avoid Rubbing
Next, when cleaning your wall art, it is of best practice to dust them instead. Rubbing the wall arts causes friction to its surface. Friction causes heat and at times, scratches. Heat also affects the paint applications on your chosen medium. Though most mediums are scratch resistant, it’s still best practice to use a feather duster instead of a cloth.
4. Avoid using Chemicals
Lastly, we know that it’s tempting to use cleaning chemicals to easily clean various surfaces. With regards to prints though, it is best to avoid them. The ink used on your wall art pieces may have certain reactions to cleaning products and affect their overall appearance.
If some areas of your prints are still unclean upon dusting, a wet damp cloth will suffice. If this fails, it would be best to take your display pieces to professional cleaners.
Metal Prints Display Options
Aside from printing single images, there are more ways to utilize metal prints. You can either choose multiple photos and make a collage or do multiple prints of sections of an image.
Feeling like one photo isn’t enough to capture the beauty of a special day? A collage bridgesthe gap of this! By combining multiple photos taken on a special day, your wall art surely depicts the memories that come with it. We prepared an article discussing the best online collage makers to assist you in making that perfect collage! Find it here: Best Online Collage Maker in 2022.
Another feature that most printing companies offer is the division of your photos to multiple parts. This allows you to create a massive display piece of a whole photo but dividing them into multiple prints. This is greatly recommended for large negative spaces on walls in your home. Turning that blank space to a massive display surface is a great application of these wall art printing mediums.
Conclusion
Metal Prints offer the best value for money. They are the most durable and wear resistant among all the printing mediums. Metal Prints also provide great value for color with the option of a white gloss base. The image quality provided by Metal Prints compare closely to Acrylic Prints, the standard for highest print quality.
The longevity and brilliance of personalized metal prints make them an increasingly popular choice for both home and gallery display. Metal prints stand above the other options because of their benefits. These include their appearance, life span, and most of all, durability.
A metal print is a wall art piece that has a clean, modern, industrial, high-definition look. Metal prints utilize aluminum, with a variety of coats. This gives off vivid colors on any printed image. Metal prints are resistant to fading, moisture, and scratching. This makes metal prints the superior choice for both indoor and outdoor display.
Afterword
We hope that you find this article helpful. Thank you for reading and you’re always free to leave a comment. If you find this article interesting, consider checking out one of our recently published posts. A few of them showcase these AI Art Generators in extreme detail. On the other hand, if you’re looking towards Photography, we also offer great articles for your inspiration. May these articles give you inspiration for your next print!
Find them here:
5 Best AI Art Generators
World Photography Day 2022
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The Art of Editing Photos