New visual plastic/resin process'?

Hello, Ive been developing a product that not needs to be 'jazzed up a bit' in tha plastics department. I need to create a plastic product that looks very intresting and do not want to rely on a color to make it look great. I recently heard of a process called fill casting or overcasting which as described would be like taking a shape and casting it out of lets say red plastic then imagine offsetting the shape in a cad drawing so its a bit bigger and casting that out of clear plastic/resin with the original smaller red piece encased in it.

Can anyone suggest any other 'cool' visual plastic manufacturing methods...? Maybe a simple texture on the piece created my something or... I dont know. Can one cast plastic with a color gradient yet? Like on the left side of a piece its transparent red and by the time it hits the right edge of the piece its totally clear...? Maybe you know of a few process' where when combined create something more intresting than a simple plastic part.

Any sugestions would be helpfull. Thanks.
BumpMan