Thank you so much to all who replied.

This piece has literally been driving me nuts for about a month.

Alinspired, I tried this method for about 4 hours, made about 100 holes and then the program just stopped allowing me to use the trim tool. Very unfortunate. Boolean does the same thing, it just can't handle all of the cuts.

Daverave, I talked to a professor who also recommended a transparency as the best way to go about this. He was telling me that I need to work with Hypershade to make rules on how the materials would work. He said that if I use a blinn, then I need to make some kind of rule that doesn't allow specularity where the holes should be. He was explaining it all so fast that I got lost. So, if anyone knows their way around Hypershade I am all ears. The project is due next Tuesday, so I am kind of desperate at this point.

Thank You
Jenni(fer)