PolyColor plates are specially prepared anodized aluminum sheets that have been coated with a photosensitive resist coating.  The resist may be selectively hardened by exposing the plate through a film to ultraviolet light.  Subsequent rinsing with cold running water allows one to remove resist in unexposed areas.  PolyColor dyes, then, may be manually wiped or inserted into the pores of the aluminum that were revealed as a result of having rinsed away unexposed resist.

Following insertion of the dye, the remaining exposed resist is stripped away and plates may then be sealed.  Like Metalphoto and EconAlum, the PolyColor image is sub-surface in nature making it virtually impervious to abrasion, chemicals, moisture, humidity and salt spray.