3D-printed Star Wars Toys from WillowFlex, re-paintable with biodegradable water colors

To celebrate the cinema premiere of Star Wars, BioInspiration is releasing images of two of the most famous objects from the movies 3D printed with WillowFlex: An X-Wing from the original trilogy and the melted Darth Vader mask from the current episode VII. In the process of coloring the prints, they found out that Matte-surface of a WillowFlex print not only allows biodegradable watercolor paint to hold, but it can be washed and repainted!

Both co-founders are long-time Star Wars fans, so it was natural that they would dive back and print two of the most famous objects from Star Wars. Both items were printed in WillowFlex’s Natural Color a soft-cream tone. But they were missing the colored elements that bring out “the look of the originals”. So they began to explore different paint options that would also be environmentally neutral. They found several, which means that if WillowFlex is composted, the paint also won’t harm the environment.

“We were surprised and how accepting the material is! One of the first things we tried was the ecological watercolors from my son’s backpack. And it bonded well to the WillowFlex toy. And because it is watercolor – if you want to change the painting of your 3D printed toy, you can just wash it away and paint again. Let your creativity flow to Sustainability!“

Thorsten Perl, CVO & Co-Founder of BioInspiration

Like all WillowFlex prints, The X-Wing and the mask have the following unique features:

• Compostable Raw Material (that have passed the U.S. and E.U. standards for compostability)
• At least Flexible like other Flex-Filaments
• Low off-gassing during the printing process
• Heat Resistant above 100°C
• Cold Resistant Retains its flexibility to -15°C
• Fully paintable with biodegradable water-colors and able to be washed away.

Just a few months ago, BioInspiration successfully completed their Kickstarter campaign (the World`s first Flex-Filament from Compostable Raw Materials) with backers from 31 countries worldwide. This week they sent out finished sending first wave of awards (pictures on their Twitter channel).

WillowFlex is already available for purchase in 10 colors directly from BioInspiration at willowflex.eu