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:

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
  Stained glass
  The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
  
  , patchwork
  Patchwork
  Patchwork or "pieced work" is a form of needlework that involves sewing together pieces of fabric into a larger design. The larger design is usually based on repeat patterns built up with different colored shapes. These shapes are carefully measured and cut, straight-sided, basic geometric shapes...
  
  , woodwork
  Woodworking
  Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...
  
  , linoleum
  Linoleum
  Linoleum is a floor covering made from renewable materials such as solidified linseed oil , pine rosin, ground cork dust, wood flour, and mineral fillers such as calcium carbonate, most commonly on a burlap or canvas backing; pigments are often added to the materials.The finest linoleum floors,...
  
  , marble
  Marble
  Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
  
  , etc.
• carving out (e.g. wood carving
  Wood carving
  Wood carving is a form of working wood by means of a cutting tool in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object...
  
  ), cutting out, perforation
  Perforation
  A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes are called a perforation...
  
  : this may concern the outside shape
  Shape
  The shape of an object located in some space is a geometrical description of the part of that space occupied by the object, as determined by its external boundary – abstracting from location and orientation in space, size, and other properties such as colour, content, and material...
  
  , shaped holes, and patterns of holes (e.g. in a punched card
  Punched card
  A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
  
  ; also a passport
  Passport
  A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
  
   may have its number perforated in the pages, to make forgery
  Forgery
  Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
  
   more difficult).
• embroidery
  Embroidery
  Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....
  
   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

Mirror image

A mirror image is a reflected duplication of an object that appears identical but reversed. As an optical effect it results from reflection off of substances such as a mirror or water. It is also a concept in geometry and can be used as a conceptualization process for 3-D structures...

, 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

Chirality (mathematics)

In geometry, a figure is chiral if it is not identical to its mirror image, or, more precisely, if it cannot be mapped to its mirror image by rotations and translations alone. For example, a right shoe is different from a left shoe, and clockwise is different from counterclockwise.A chiral object...

. We can distinguish two cases:

• the sheet surface with the image has no axis of symmetry
  Symmetry
  Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection...
  
   parallel to the axis of rotation - the two sides are different (e.g. U on a page rotated L-R)
• the sheet surface with the image has an axis of symmetry parallel to the axis of rotation - the two sides are the same (e.g. C on a page rotated L-R)

Forensics

Through and through is also used in forensics

Forensics

Forensic science is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to a legal system. This may be in relation to a crime or a civil action...

to describe a bullet that has passed through a body, leaving both entry and exit wounds.