a process of forming an image comprising imagewise - exposing , by means of a laser , a thermal recording element comprising a transparent support having thereon at least two metal layers having a melting point below about 2 , 000 ° c . and a substantially transparent , polymeric spacer layer separating each metal layer from another metal layer , thereby causing portions of each metal layer to coalesce in response to the imagewise exposure by the laser , thus forming the image .