Metallurgy is a range of anodised aluminium sheets in A4-A1 sheets with an inkjet receptive coating suitable for printing using any aqueous inkjet machines, including Epson, Canon and HP printers, so long as they have a straight media path.

"The idea is to be able to offer Gicleé prints for the very top end of the market for fine art and photographic applications, whose needs are very different from the markets served by printing direct to uncoated media using dye-sub or UV cured technology," said Blanc Canvas managing director Andrew Ainge.

The sheets, which are available in brushed aluminium and mirrored silver, gold and copper finishes, start at around £4 per A4 sheet.

Printed sheets need a protective coating applied to fix the image, with spray coating, lamination and flood UV coatings all suitable.

Blanc Canvas also introduced You Frame Display – a new version of its modular frameless mounting system.

The Display version replaces the canvas of the original version with a fabric that, when used with the micro Velcro fitted to the frame, allows rapid changes to graphics in-situ, which Ainge said made it suitable for display graphics where it was necessary to regularly change the images.

"You keep the frame and change the graphic," he said.

The frames are available in sizes of up to 2x2m and the fabric can be printed using UV, solvent and dye-sub processes, while the firm is working on a version for aqueous printers.

Ainge added that the micro Velcro would only work with the firm's own fabric.