grooves oriented at different angles simply by changing the angle in which the ribbon is fed into the stamping equipment this different orientation of two regions of otherwise essentially same flakes provides different visual effects from the two regions in lighting conditions other than normal incidence and is also useful as a means of authentication of an article or product the composite images are applied to as is illustrated in fig4 b the stamping die 40 after stamping the ribbon 14 produces a patch of aligned flakes in the form of a circular area surrounding an arrow with the grooves oriented left to right the ribbon 14 stamped by the die 40 may be the same or a different ribbon as 14 with the grooves of the diffractive flakes oriented in the same way as in ribbon 14 therefore the same ribbon can be used for both stamping stations or a different ribbon having flakes oriented in a same manner can be used in the embodiments described heretofore diffractive flakes having grooves or lines therein have been used in such a manner as to be aligned in a particular direction with respect to the substrate then regions of the cured coating were stamped out and applied via a hot stamp or other process to a different substrate of course other suitable forms of adhesion between the stamped diffractive substrate and the object or substrate.