★ Issue 005 · The Makes ★

Prism, crackle, mosaic

Four holographic patterns and what each one is brilliant at. Cards, tumblers, prints, packaging. Pick by the make, not by the swatch.

★ 6 min read · By Betty ★

Holographic covers a lot of ground.

The pattern is what gives each one its personality.

Big facets behave one way. Fine dots behave another. None of them is better. They are just built for different makes, and once you know which is which you will start seeing projects for all of them.

So here they are, with what I would actually put each one on.

1Prism · the showstopper

Large irregular shards, cut like broken crystal, each one throwing its own rainbow flare.

Its superpower: drama across a surface. Give prism a bit of space and it does something no other finish does. Every facet fires at a different moment as the piece turns, so you get a live, jewelled effect rather than a flat shine.

Put it on:

• Tumblers. This is prism's happy place. A curved surface rotating in someone's hand is exactly the movement the facets need, and a tumbler gives you the width to show them off properly.
• Card fronts and panels. A foiled block behind your sentiment, a full-bleed front, a large die cut shape. Wedding, milestone birthdays, anything that wants to feel expensive in the hand.
• Big monograms and initials. One large letter in prism on a plain card is a whole design. You do not need anything else on it.
• Gift boxes, tags and packaging. Small runs of luxury packaging is where prism pays for itself.

Crystal Maze

Silver Prism Holographic

Cool, icy, full spectrum flare. The silver half of the prism pair.

Crown Jewels

Gold Prism Holographic

Same facets on a warm gold base. Expensive looking without trying.

2Crackle · the one for borders

Fractures running right through the film, like safety glass after the hit. Organic, irregular, no repeat you can spot.

Its superpower: texture that follows a line. Because the fractures are fine and run in every direction, crackle looks intentional on long thin shapes in a way big-facet foils never quite manage.

Put it on:

• Borders and frames. A crackle border around a card front is my favourite quick win in the whole range. Five minutes, looks like you tried for an hour.
• Tumbler wraps and bands. A crackle stripe around a tumbler catches light all the way round as it turns.
• Background panels behind a photo or print. Crackle sits beautifully behind an image without competing with it.
• Christmas, winter and festive everything. Thin Ice on a snowflake is the easiest yes I have ever written.
• Medium weight lettering. Chunky sans serif, block caps, bold display. The fractures read clearly at that stroke width.

Emerald City

Green Crackle Holographic

The deepest green we do, and the only green with fracture in it.

Thin Ice

Blue Crackle Holographic

The phrase and the picture at the same time. Cold, sharp, fractured.

Dragon's Breath

Rainbow Crackle · Exclusive

The original crackle, running full spectrum instead of single colour.

3Mosaic · the detail hero

A tight grid of small square facets, each catching light on its own.

Its superpower: holding fine detail while still being properly holographic. Because the squares are small, you fit plenty of them across even a slim stroke, so your pattern survives everywhere your toner goes.

Put it on:

• Script and handwriting fonts. If you have been wanting holographic on a delicate script, this is the one. It keeps the sparkle right through the thin upstrokes.
• Sentiments and small text. Inside messages, little quotes, address labels, product labels.
• Fine linework and outline illustrations. Florals, botanicals, line art, anything drawn rather than blocked.
• Detailed die cuts and intricate shapes. Lace effects, filigree, anywhere a big pattern would be lost.
• And big shapes too. Mosaic does not stop working when you scale up. It just shimmers instead of flashing.

Hot Pixel

Magenta Mosaic Holographic

The most saturated pink in the range, with a digital grid running through it.

4Laser sand · the all rounder

Thousands of tiny holographic points scattered across a solid metallic base.

Its superpower: it keeps the metal in charge. Gold still reads as gold from across the room, then breaks into rainbow sparkle when someone picks it up. The other three push the rainbow forward. This one holds it in reserve.

Put it on:

• Anything and everything. Genuinely. If you are buying one holographic roll to cover the most jobs, buy a laser sand.
• Wedding and formal stationery. Where a full rainbow would be too much but flat gold would be too plain.
• Christmas cards. Traditional gold with a bit of magic in it.
• Tumblers. The sparkle is inside the film, so nothing sheds and nothing lifts. Your workspace stays clean, which anyone who has worked with loose glitter will appreciate.
• Fine detail and big blocks alike. The dots are tiny, so scale is never the question.

Gold Digger

Gold Laser Sand

Warm gold with fine holo dots. Solid gold at distance, glitter close up.

Glitter Bomb

Pink Laser Sand

The same film in pink. The one that started this whole finish for us.

Mixing them on one piece

The best foiled work I see in the group almost always uses two finishes, not one.

A loud pattern doing the heavy lifting on a shape, and a quiet one carrying the words. Prism panel with mosaic lettering. Crackle border with a plain gold sentiment. Laser sand background with a solid silver monogram.

It takes one extra piece of card and it is the difference between a nice card and a card someone keeps on the mantelpiece.

Try before you commit to a roll

This is exactly why single A4 sheets exist and why they start at £1.79.

1. Print your real design at the real size you will use it.
2. Cut it into strips and foil each strip in a different finish.
3. Look at them in daylight and under a lamp. Holographic behaves completely differently under warm indoor light, and both are worth seeing.
4. Then buy the roll of whichever one made you grin.

A test page costs less than a coffee and it is more fun than it sounds. I still do it for every new design.

The real-talk part

I name the pattern on every product page. Prism, crackle, mosaic, laser sand, starburst. Not to be clever, but because there are several holographic silvers in this range and they do completely different jobs.

You are the one at the laminator at eleven at night with a craft fair on Saturday. You should know exactly what you are reaching for.

Now go and make something ridiculous.

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Post what you make. Cards, tumblers, prints, packaging, all of it. If you want a second opinion on which finish to pair with which, ask and I will tell you what I would do.

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