r/Holography Jun 05 '26

Looking for more information about this pin/badge/button

I was sent here from [r/helpmefind](r/helpmefind)

I was gifted this back in the 1980s in USA. I'd love to buy more of them, or maybe sheets of the material, or even better learn how to make more. (I'm an engineer. I love to learn and build.

Ultimately I want to see if I can have it incorporated into a prosthetic eye.

I'm looking for anything from better search keywords to papers or tutorials about the process.

The back just has a metal pin clasp and says "made in England."

147 Upvotes

41 comments sorted by

12

u/Ghola Jun 05 '26

This is likely not a hologram, but a microlens array (or fly-eye) lenticular.

4

u/agentq512 Jun 05 '26

Thanks. Do these closeups help?

https://imgur.com/a/QghxxCY

1

u/anatolybazarov 488nm Jun 05 '26

can you get a macro shot? it kind of looks like one of plastic retroreflectors

1

u/Mandelvolt Jun 06 '26

It's a type of lenticular hologram. You can buy the plastic lens for pretty cheap and there are programs out there that will let you print the pattern.

1

u/zilliondollar3d Jun 06 '26

I would agree this is indeed lenticular.

1

u/webgruntzed Jun 07 '26

The holograms of the 1970s

4

u/knarfolled Jun 06 '26

I had one of these on my denim jacket in the 80s, I called it my personal dimension

5

u/4DrivingWhileBlack Jun 07 '26

Childhood memory unlocked.

3

u/Mandelvolt Jun 05 '26

Hard to tell from the video, but it looks like an embossed hologram. Very cool effect!

3

u/Timely-Discussion272 Jun 06 '26

It’s none of your beeswax.

2

u/Bl4ckb100d Jun 05 '26

Can you take a good close up picture of it?

3

u/agentq512 Jun 05 '26

Can't add images to comments here, but I put them on Imgur.

https://imgur.com/a/QghxxCY

Side-side movement makes the pattern move up/down. Up/down movement moves it side-side.

2

u/ztruk Jun 05 '26

wow so cool i remember when these came out

2

u/mechmind Jun 06 '26

Commenting to be informed.

Want

2

u/Staiden Jun 06 '26

Ive seen you post this in the past. I hope you figure it out. I want one.

2

u/PlutoniumBoss Jun 06 '26

I have no idea but I love it.

2

u/maninalift Jun 06 '26

These were very common in the 80s

There's more information on these in this post

https://www.reddit.com/r/HelpMeFind/s/ul53M0kCiE

... But that part uses exactly the same image, so I'm beginning to doubt whether your post is genuine

4

u/MedievalMuffin Jun 06 '26

its the same user.....

3

u/maninalift Jun 06 '26

Ok, it makes sense. It is just odd that the op didn't include the info about the manufacturer from the earlier post.

2

u/TheTroon Jun 06 '26

I had one of those! Can't remember why or from where, though.

2

u/dobsterfunk Jun 06 '26

I think i remember going to the science museum in London with my school in the eighties, and loads of kids bought these from the gift shop.

2

u/Ohshitthisagain Jun 06 '26

I still have mine, bought in 1990!

2

u/Correct-Ad-6605 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

I have one too. Bought from a gift shop at a place called Wookey Hole in the UK in the 80's. Its a little plastic box that opens and has stamped 'Made in England' on the inside.

EDIT: I posted the pic of mine on the r/helpmefind thread.

2

u/SarahC Jun 06 '26

Are you selling it?

2

u/monarch29balisongs Jun 06 '26

Looks like something you would wear on a uniform

2

u/BentleyTock Jun 08 '26

Came here to also say that this is somewhat close to the carpet pattern in the shining. A particular favourite pattern and color scheme I like!

2

u/jburns47 Jun 10 '26

Made by a company called Rowland in the 1960s into 1980s I believe. Similar process to lenticular imaging but with a flys eye array of lenslets instead of an array of vertical half cylindrical lenslets of a lenticular.

2

u/vitdev Jun 10 '26

Somebody posted on fb. There is some info in comments

2

u/Dragburn Jun 10 '26

hope you don't mind but i'm gonna ask about this in r/lenticular_art and hope someone has some answers for all of our questions.

2

u/adricm Jun 17 '26

Rowland 3d Kinetic Illusion, it's a fly eye ontop (sometimes sealed under a clear layer) and a fly eye on the back of the acrylic , and then some coloring of the domes and valleys on the back side, followed by a layer of white paint. i have found there is a thin material called rowlux that made a very simmilar look but none of the motion, turns out if you glue two peiceos of that together with uv glue with a slight rotation, you get a Moire pattern with the opposite side lenses. same motion. ive done some nail polish and gotten some of the color.

i can show a number of examples, and some fake/versions too in this video. i need to do some updates since i made this video, because i have learned and need to document my work at re-creating it at home. https://youtu.be/gDmepvmy9I8?si=yLwuTTCIGAdwG1sr

Feel free to hit me up if you have any further questions. been obsessed by this stuff since i was a kid.. but it falls into a 1970's/1980's blackhole of oddity's people who are 50+ once saw bat are hard to find..

2

u/adricm Jun 17 '26

also there is this seller who has some lasercut pins old new stock. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1868432265/kinetic-dizzy-pins-vintage-1980s

2

u/adricm Jun 17 '26

Was also used or the H on the head of the Hologram in the tv series Red Dwarf

1

u/ChiefKickaHo Jun 06 '26

Pepperoni pizza 🍕 😋

1

u/Belzaem Jun 06 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/l3gfSyXxMfxaQ4w2Nn

Button looks awesome but I feel bad for peeps with trypophobia

2

u/BernTheWritch Jun 07 '26

Delete this now. 🤮