a cold rolling process for impressing a pattern on a surface of a sheet metal article involves passing the sheet article through a pair of rolls and engaging a patterning feature with isolated areas of a surface of the sheet article , at a localized pressure to plastically deform at least the surface of the sheet article . a rolling pressure is maintained on other areas of the sheet article that is less than the bulk elastic yield strength of the metal . a cold rolling apparatus is also described having a pair of rolls , each with partially cylindrical outer surfaces . the rolls have a gap between the cylindrical parts . one of the rolls has a localized surface region that is displaced relative to the surface of the roll . when the localized region is brought near the other roll , a spacing exists that is narrower than the gap . one of the rolls has a localized patterning feature that aligns with the localized surface region to impress a pattern into the sheet article . the gap allows the rolls to engage opposite surfaces of the sheet article while imparting compression less than a bulk elastic yield strength of the metal .