Expanded metal is made by taking a roll of sheet metal,
cutting thin slits in the sheet, and then using rollers to
stretch the metal so the slits open, forming a mesh. The
same process is also used to create plastic mesh.
This idea is fairly simple: Start with a sheet of colored or
patterned
plastic or paper, with adhesive backing and
waxed paper liner, and cut a similar pattern of slits into
the sticker, being careful not to cut through the backing.
Sell it to the customer in this form, and, as he peels the
sticker off the back, it turns into an open mesh.
Possible Uses:
The resulting mesh will have an appearance similar to
expanded metal, which means it would be useful for
making signage advertising... expanded metal ;)
Putting ordinary stickers on a curved surface (other than a
tube or cone) will usually result in wrinkled or torn
stickers... expanded stickers could be much more flexible
and conforming.
Obviously, you can cover a larger surface area with
expanded stickers than plain ones.
There're probably other benefits, and perhaps some
downsides, but it's late and I'm too tired to think of more.