This is a High Flyer. In fact, you’re one of the lucky first few people to get one. Neat.

Okay cool thanks. What is it, though?

It’s a multi-functional tool created as a geometrically planar entity characterised by a uniform nearly-two-dimensional surface area, devoid of any curvature or volumetric dimension, whereby its structural integrity and functional purpose are encapsulated within the parameters of a flat, trapezoidal form typically employed for the purposes of information dissemination, identification, or utilization in various hobbies.

So it’s a scrapey card for my rolling tray?

I think, though, it’s much more than that! There’s a lot of little features in it that have had careful (and borderline obsessive) consideration to go in to it!

Features

• 3D printed to be firm, flexible, and made of durable material to last you a long time

• Easily cleanable with the same cleaner you’d use for the rest of your kit - a bit of rubbing alcohol and a gentle cloth will restore it back to original

• Permanently linked QR code to Quad City Collective’s current Instagram account

• A super cool holographic front (just because)

• Printed thin enough to take advantage of the material’s thermoplastic properties - with a bit of heat, you can form it in to whatever shape you want.

Wait a second…thermowhatsit? What?

Thermoplastics can change their shape when you heat them up. That’s the whole thing with 3D printing - heat plastic up and make it a specific shape. The neat thing here, though, and I think the real achievement with these things is that when you heat the cards up, you can make them take whatever shape you want.

Changing Shapes

Heat the card up with some water to about 70C (158F for our American friends), dip the part of the card you want to form in to the water, and wiggle it around a little bit. You’ll see it start to go all floppy like seaweed.

Take it out, and form it in to the shape you want! Once it’s out of the water it’ll start cooling off and hardening again, so it might take a few folds to get it just how you want.

Fold it up in to whatever shape you need - don’t be afraid to experiment! The plastic can be reset back to its original shape with, you guessed it, a bit of heat.

Why?

I’d callously say “Why not?”, but honestly it’s more like “Because I had a cool idea" and I’m a big fan of making cool things. It’s a big part of what I get to do at work, and what I get to do for people that need cool things made.

The original idea was a few small pieces that came together all at once - a sticker we got with Quad City’s logo on it (“Can we just scan a logo and print it?”), experimenting with colour stacking to make full-colour 3D printed images (“How thin can I make something without colour bleeding through?”), a small talk conversation with someone at a local weed shop about design (“I like when things are things that they don’t look like they are…”), and a friend casually mentioning they buy pre-rolled joints because they suck at rolling them themselves (“I need a better tool to do this!”).

All of these came together to make the High Flyer, named that way since my office and shop assistant said “Hey, those kind of look like airplanes.”, after having folded one up to make a little scoop on one side and funnel on the other.

Now my friend can roll a cone, scoop up their weed, and funnel it in to the joint with the rolled up side. Or they won’t bother to fold it up and just use it as a scraper. Or they’ll use it for whatever. However you can use it, go for it. I turned a few in to business cards.

Anyways…

Thanks for reading all of this. I had a lot more to say about it than I thought I did! Let me know below what you think of them, if you want some customized ones of your own, or if there’s anything else we can print for you.

Enjoy!