Sixty-plus foil patterns. Or one that’s only yours.
Every holographic card we make starts on a pattern board from Exceptional Papers, Inc., our foil partner. Rainbow, Kaboom, Galaxy, Swirl, Cubic and dozens more are ready to print on. And if the pattern you want doesn’t exist yet, we can help you create one and own it.
For artist releases, team sets, promo runs and collector parallels.
Ready to print this week.
These boards are cut to press size and sitting in our shop, so a parallel, a promo run or a one-of-one can go straight to press. Every foil card starts on 12 pt, 16 pt or 20 pt foil board; Rainbow is on the shelf in all three, Cubic in 20 pt, and the rest in 12 pt.
Any other pattern in the library below is ordered in for your job, usually with no minimum sheet count. Ask in your quote and we’ll tell you what it adds to the timeline.
Sixty-three patterns, all printable on card stock.
Every holographic board Exceptional Papers makes, photographed from their pattern guide. Each one takes full-colour print with a white underbase, so your artwork stays bright and the shimmer shows through where you let it.
Photos are of the raw boards under studio light. On a finished card the pattern reads through your art and in the unprinted areas, and it moves as the card tilts. Ask for a printed sample of the pattern you’re leaning toward before you commit a whole run.
Exceptional Papers, Inc.
Holographic board is a specialty, and we don’t pretend otherwise. Every pattern on this page comes from Exceptional Papers, Inc., the family-run paper house we partner with for all of our foil pattern needs. John and Shirley Tillinghast have supplied holographic paper to the rock-poster and fine-art world for more than twenty years, from their own holographic lab and press, on domestically made board. They make the sheets, they stock the patterns, and when a project calls for something that isn’t in the guide, they build it.
What that means for you: a real library instead of two or three house options, foil board in 12 pt, 16 pt and 20 pt, plus silver, brushed silver, chrome, gold, colour and white holographic finishes alongside the patterns, and no minimum sheet count standing between a small run and the pattern it deserves. We handle the artwork, the white underbase, the printing with our local manufacturing partners, and the cutting, numbering and packaging at Archway Press, our family’s print shop near Philadelphia.
Create a pattern that’s only yours.
Collectors know the great patterns by name. Somebody designed Kaboom. Somebody designed Rainbow. Now imagine the pattern under your parallels is one nobody else has: your mark, your motif, your logo worked into the hologram itself, and it never shows up on anyone else’s cards.
Working with Exceptional Papers, we can originate a brand-new holographic pattern for your brand. You own it and it’s yours to use, release after release. It’s the single hardest thing for anyone to copy, and it turns a chase card into a signature.
Brief
Tell us the brand, the mark or motif you want in the shimmer, and the release it’s for. A logo, a repeating icon, a texture tied to your world.
Pattern design
We turn the brief into a holographic pattern design with Exceptional Papers and show you how it will repeat across a card before anything is made.
Proof board
Your pattern is made as a real holographic board and we print a test card on it, so you see the finished effect in hand.
Your runs
The pattern is yours. We stock it for your parallels, promos and one-of-ones, and it never goes into the library for anyone else.
What we can do on top of the board.
White underbase
A spot white layer under your art keeps colours true on the foil and lets you choose exactly where the pattern shows through: a frame, a name bar, the whole background.
Chrome and brushed silver
Mirror chrome and brushed-metal boards for the parallels that should feel like hardware rather than light.
Etch on chrome
Clear raised line work laid over the print, traced from your art’s own lines, so the card catches light along every edge of the drawing.
Numbering and foil stamps
Hand or gold-foil serial numbering, 1/1 chase cards, signature spaces and matching foil display labels.
Board weight
Every foil card starts on 12 pt, 16 pt or 20 pt foil board. Pick the weight that matches the rest of your set, or go heavier for a chase card that should feel like one.
Display cards
Slabbed display cards with the slab label printed on the same pattern as the card, so the case matches the card inside it.
Four steps from pattern to pack.
1. Pick the board
From our shelf for the fastest turn, or from the library and we order it in. Unsure? Ask for a printed sample.
2. We prep the art
We build the white underbase and the foil layers from your files, and send a proof that shows where the shimmer will live.
3. Press
Printed on the board by our local manufacturing partners, then cut and checked at Archway Press, our family’s print shop near Philadelphia.
4. Finish and pack
Numbering, signatures, slabs or sealed packs. Plan for 3–4 weeks from the day your files are complete; a pattern ordered in or a custom pattern adds time, and we’ll say how much up front.
Before you pick a pattern.
- Can I print full colour on a holographic board?
- Yes. We lay a white underbase where the art needs to stay true, and leave it off where you want the pattern to show through. The proof shows both.
- How small a run can be foil?
- Foil parallels usually run alongside a base set, and we’ve done hand-numbered runs of a few dozen. Tell us the quantity in your quote and we’ll price it honestly; small foil runs cost more per card than base cards do.
- Which pattern should I start with?
- Rainbow. It’s the classic, it’s on our shelf in every weight, and it suits almost any artwork. Kaboom is the one people point at on the table.
- Can a pattern be exclusive to me?
- A library pattern is open to anyone. A pattern we originate with you is yours: your brief, your board, your name on it, and we don’t offer it to other customers.
- Do you make foil packs too?
- Yes. Printed foil wrappers, sealed packs and boxes are part of the same project. See custom packs and packaging.
Tell us the set. We’ll suggest the pattern.
Send the artwork or the idea, the quantity, and when you need it. Name a pattern if you have one in mind, or ask us to pick two to sample.
Quotes usually within 1–2 business days (a little longer during busy stretches).