Making a Stencil  

***IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER**- When you are making a stencil or purchasing a rubber stamp to be made, you must remember one thing!  When you are going to use the stencil it will be on the inside of the butterfly pouch.  Therefore if you do the stencil exactly as it is seen, it will turn out backwards.  what you need to do is (if in Photoshop and tracing or printing or whatever) you must flip the picture horizontally so that the words seem to be a mirror image.  Therefore when you use the stencil to place the hologram on your ID it will be readable and not backwards.

 Ok great, now we know exactly how to make a hologram, but we need to make a stencil.  There are three options on how to do this (email me about them, I need more info). Wait, maybe you do not know what a stencil is!  A stencil is sort of a cut out in a piece of paper that allows you to brush the paint over top of it, only allowing for the design to be painted out exactly the same every time.

Firstly you can do it the cheap way which is what I am trying to do right now since I am cheap.  You can only do this for simple holograms such as the one on the New Jersey DL.  As long as their aren't floaters (O) if you were to cut out the O, the entire space would be cut out not just where the font color is.  

To make the stencil  you could use a small piece of plastic, print the stencil on paper or the plastic and cut it out using an e-xacto knife.  You will not get optimal results this way.  If you can, do send me a sample PLEASE!

The second way is by using photoEZ stencil.  It is a product only available online.  It allows you to create complex designs (IE the California hologram) including seals, floaters and all.  I have heard only good things about this way to make your stencil however, I have not tested it out myself. It anyone can send me a demo please email me or if anyone wants to add a photoEZ stencil it would be great.

The third option is more expensive then the one above.  You can print out your hologram in black ink on a regular peice of paper, including floaters and complicated design and take it to Kinko's or similar stores.  Then, you can order a stamp to be made by them.  This will provide pretty good results however, when you try to make the ID,  some of the small fonts and pictures may turn out smudgy and sometimes unreadable.  This will cost you about $20 per hologram.
 

I have been attempting to perfect the cheap mans technique without too much success.  If anyone wants to send me a
photoEZ stencil demo it would be great.

Apply the Paint is next.

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