Through and through

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Through and through describes a situation where an object, real or imaginary, passes completely through another object, also real or imaginary. The phrase has several common uses:

Contents 1 Printmaking 2 Forensics 3 Other examples 4 See also

[edit] Printmaking

An image may be through and through in the following cases:

• ink or paint has penetrated to the other side
• inlaying with another material, stained glass, patchwork, woodwork, linoleum, marble, etc.
• carving out (e.g. wood carving), cutting out, perforation: this may concern the outside shape, shaped holes, and patterns of holes (e.g in a punch card; also a passport may have its number perforated in the pages, to make forgery more difficult).
• embroidery etc.

Through and through images are more durable, they do not easily wear off.

In the case that the image can be viewed from the other side, we see the mirror image, just like in the case of a transparent image, such as a drawing on a transparent sheet.

A sheet with a through and through image is achiral. We can distinguish two cases:

• the sheet surface with the image has no symmetry axis - the two sides are different
• the sheet surface with the image has a symmetry axis - the two sides are the same

[edit] Forensics

Through and through is also used in forensics to describe a bullet that has passed through a body, leaving both entry and exit wounds.

[edit] Other examples

• A highway may pass through and through a mountain, via a tunnel.
• A membrane transport protein passes through and through the cell membrane.

[edit] See also

• Flag sides