Junior DS Moodmat
A factory test print of a seven character egg carton mashup, raised uneven ink and all, die cut on eight by eleven inches of recycled rubber. Unnumbered, never released as a run.
The Print
Seven in a Carton, and the Ink Sitting Proud of the Rubber
Start with the print quality, because it is the first thing you will notice in the hand. The ink on this piece is laid on thick. Run a finger across it and the color stands proud of the rubber with a slight texture to it, closer to dried paint than to the flat even film a finished mat carries. In a few places the deposit pooled and left a glossier low spot. Along some of the color boundaries the edge has bled soft rather than stopping clean against the line. None of that is damage and none of it happened after the fact. It is what a screen looks like while it is still being dialed in, which is exactly what the sticker on the back says.
The composition is an egg carton seen open from the front. Seven cartoon turtle dragons sit in a row of cracked white eggshells, each one a different color with a different hair treatment on top, red and orange and blue and green, drawn with big eyes and open grinning mouths. Behind and above them a larger version of the same creature looms out of the middle of the carton with a heavy red mane and a wider grin than the rest. Two spotted mushrooms flank it, one blue and one green, and two grinning yellow skull faces sit in among them. Orange flames rise up both outer edges. The carton itself is drawn in red, green and grey and frames the whole thing.
The cut follows that idea. Instead of a rectangle you get a wide slab with a domed top, so the silhouette of the rubber reads as a carton lid propped open. There is no UV in the print. It is standard ink, full color, on a piece that was never meant to leave the shop as part of a run, which is why the back is bare black rubber with no maker mark or artist signature printed on it at all.
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On Video
See It In Hand
Photos only get you so far. This is the actual piece, shot in our hands, so you can see the scale, the finish and how it behaves in real light before you buy it.
Made in New Jersey Since 2009
Rubber That Already Had a First Life
Moodmats started with scraps from old wetsuits and discarded scuba and surf neoprene, material that was headed straight for a landfill. That became Lava Rubber, and Lava Rubber is what every Moodmat is cut from. The feedstock now comes from wetsuits, gaskets, weatherstripping, seat molds, and other clean scrap that gets collected or donated. More than two tons of it moves through the New Jersey shop every month, gets pressed into sheet stock, then die-cut and screen printed. Keeping that material out of the ground has been the point from day one.
Closed-Cell Neoprene
Closed-cell rubber does not drink up what you spill on it. Water, reclaim, and terp splash sit on the surface instead of soaking in, so a wipe with soapy water puts it back to new.
It Stays Put
The rubber grips whatever it is sitting on and grips whatever you set on top. A rig that would skate across a glass table or a finished desk stops moving the second it lands on a Moodmat.
Tough and Self-Extinguishing
Heat resistant, self-extinguishing, and built out of material that already survived a first life. This is not a printed coaster that curls after a month on the table.
Where People Actually Put These
It Does Not Have to Hold a Rig
A Moodmat protects a surface and grips what sits on it. Whether that thing is a banger, a camera, or nothing at all is up to you. They are called Moodmats for a reason. Pick the one that matches how you feel and put it wherever it belongs.
Rig and Glass Pad
The job it was built for. Keeps glass off hard surfaces and keeps hard surfaces off your glass.
Display Surface
Figures, models, controllers, dice, cameras, watches. Anything worth setting on something intentional.
Wall Art
Plenty of these never touch a table. Hang it, frame it, or pin it behind the setup and let the print do the work.
Desk and Everyday
Trivet for hot pans, landing spot for keys, pad under a pet bowl, cushion on a camp table.
Why It Matters
Runs End. Prints Do Not Come Back.
Moodmats print in runs, and runs end. Once a design is out, it is out. Artist collabs and drop exclusives regularly land in quantities of ten to twenty five pieces, which is why the people who collect these track drops, trade them, and frame the ones they will never put a rig on. If this specific print matters to you, the time to grab it is while it is still on the shelf.
A Proof Never Goes Out With the Run
This piece has no number on it because it was never counted into anything. Test prints get pulled to check a screen, then they sit in a shop, and the ones that leave the building leave one at a time rather than as an edition. There is no maker signature and no artist mark printed on the back, only the applied yellow sticker warning that these may be imperfect. That is the entire provenance of the piece and it is the reason it is in the vault rather than in the regular catalog.
No Reprints
Moodmats does not go back and run a sold-out design again. When this one is gone from our shelf and theirs, the only way to get it is from somebody who already has one.
Worth Hanging
A print this limited does not have to earn its keep under a rig. Plenty of these end up on a wall, in a frame, or stacked with the rest of a collection.
The Details
Specs and Care
| Size | 8 by 11 inches, approximate |
| Shape | Die-cut slab with a domed top edge, reads as a carton lid |
| Material | 100% upcycled closed-cell rubber, Lava Rubber stock |
| Screen printed, full color, standard ink, heavy raised deposit | |
| Condition | Factory test print. Raised uneven ink, visible pooling, soft bled edges |
| UV | None. Standard ink only |
| Artist | Not identified. Nothing on the piece credits one |
| Edition | Unnumbered. Not part of a released run |
| Back | Plain black rubber, no printed maker or artist mark, applied yellow test print sticker |
| Origin | Made in New Jersey, USA |
Wipe it down with warm water and a little dish soap, then let it air dry flat. That is the whole routine. Do not run it through a washing machine or a dryer, do not scrub the print with an abrasive pad, and do not rest a lit torch or a glowing-hot banger directly on the surface. Use a stand or a puck for anything still at temperature.
Straight Talk
Know Before You Buy
Upcycled Means Variation
The rubber is reclaimed scrap, so base color, speckle, and surface texture shift slightly from sheet to sheet. Two mats of the same design will not be photocopies of each other. That is how you know it is the real material and not virgin stock.
Heat Resistant, Not Heatproof
The rubber is self-extinguishing and handles warm gear without complaint. It is not a torch pad. Park anything still glowing on a proper stand or a quartz puck, not on the print.
The Print Is Imperfect and We Are Not Hiding It
Raised uneven ink you can feel, pooling where the deposit went heavy, soft bled edges on some of the color. If you want a flawless flat print, this is the wrong piece and there is no argument to make. If you want the proof that came off the press before the run, this is exactly that, and the flaws are how you know.
The Sticker Is Applied, Not Printed
The yellow test print notice on the back is a sticker sitting on the rubber, not part of the print, and it looks like it would peel off. We are leaving it on because it is the documentation for what this piece is. Whether it stays on once it is yours is your call, and it is worth knowing that peeling it removes the only marking the mat carries.
No UV, and Both Photos Are of This Exact Mat
Standard ink only, so a blacklight does nothing to it. The front and back shots on this page are of the piece on our shelf rather than a maker product shot, which matters more than usual here because the ink texture is the thing you are buying and it is visible in the photo.
Set the Mood
Recycled rubber, made in the USA, printed with art worth looking at. Free shipping on orders over $75, and every order ships from a veteran-owned small business.
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