Johexi Puzzle Mat Roll Up

 

 It's not often that I am given promotional products.  I was approached on Facebook by the company Johexi.  They were looking for feedback on their product, and sent me a free puzzle board in exchange for a review.

I was thrilled to have good mail to look forward to in the middle of a pandemic!  And since I live in a small guest house, I'm always looking for storage solutions.  Being able to roll up and store away a puzzle in progress is a great advantage.  I don't have to guess how quickly I'll be finished with a puzzle before I begin, spreading something out on my kitchen table, and knowing I'm having guests over in x amount of days.   I figured it would be weeks before I received my puzzle mat, but it came in just a few days. 

 

The Johexi Puzzle Mat came in a box just slightly larger than a shoebox.  The mat itself is made of neoprene, and the core that you roll the puzzle up around is made of foam.  The core comes in two pieces, which you stick together using included adhesive velcro.  This is basically the only portion that has to be assembled.  There are straps included to wrap around the rolled up puzzle.  Once rolled and strapped, the puzzle is to be inserted into a carry bag with a strap to go around your shoulder.  I can see how this system would make for easy travel. 

We recently had a heat wave in Southern CA, with temperatures up to 113 degrees.  So I had to wall myself and my pups up in my bedroom to contain the air conditioning from my one window unit.  This went on for three days, and the nights were record setting hot as well.  I needed to distract myself during that weekend so I wouldn't focus on the heat and feel the claustrophobia.  So, I opened up a puzzle I'd gotten in a trade, Pomegranate's "Country Dog Gentleman."  It's a 1000 pc puzzle, and I knew it would fill the time.  But since I was trapped in my bedroom, I had only one surface to work on -- my bed.  

 

The Johexi Mat helped keep puzzle dust off my bed.  Because the mat is made of soft neoprene, I put some foamcore underneath to provide a hard surface.  The puzzle pieces slid smoothly across the neoprene and the black surface made my puzzle pieces stand out, so it was easy to see the piece I was looking for.  The mat was large enough to hold my entire puzzle even while I had many pieces spread out.  

My major complaint with the puzzle mat was sort of my own fault - I was so excited to use it, that I couldn't wait.  I'd only had it about two days before trying it out.  It was so new that the neoprene was off-gassing terribly.  And because I was trapped in the one room, the off-gasses were terrible!  It gave me a pretty bad headache.  I would suggest taking this out of the box as soon as you get it and leaving it somewhere for a few weeks before you begin to use it.

I haven't really tried rolling up a puzzle and taking it somewhere, but as I said, I think it would be easy to pack up a puzzle in progress.  Some reviewers have suggested that the company add a pocket to the travel pouch to hold puzzle pieces or a box.  I think that would be a great idea. 

I am keeping this item to use over and over again.  It retails for around $25 and can be found on Amazon here. 

Pomegranate “Country Dog Gentlemen” by Roy De Forest

 

This Pomegranate is right up my alley - it features a painting by Roy De Forest from 1972 titled "Country Dog Gentlemen."  Knowing the time period of this work, it's not surprising that it contains a hallucination of mushrooms, amoebas, and dogs.  The box mentions De Forest as one of the original "Humorous Figuration" artists of the early 1960s.  He resided in the Bay area and taught at UC Davis from the '60s to the '80s.

 

My house has a new addition - current foster dog Carl, who may stay in our home as part of our family.  He needs a little time to settle in before we decide.  But he's getting along well with my girls and is a great playmate for Callie!  He was pulled from East Valley shelter in mid-August.  And apparently is fine posing for photos.  Meanwhile Claire and I just celebrated her 14th adoption anniversary, which means she is legitimately 15 or 16 years old, as she was fully grown when I adopted her from the Carson shelter in September of 2006.  She was recently diagnosed with kidney disease so every day with her is precious.

I received this puzzle from a local puzzle exchange group.  I couldn't believe it was complete, with no missing pieces!  We had a heat wave in California with temperatures reaching 113 degrees for about three days.  I holed up with the pups in our bedroom to conserve the air conditioning from our small window unit, and did this puzzle on my bed.  I was thankful to have something to focus on to pass the time.  It took me about two days to finish.

The finished puzzle size is 29 x 20 inches.  I'm able to find a poster frame from Wal-Mart for about twenty bucks that should fit this nicely, and so will be able to pass it along to a friend who owns a kennel. 

I love the quality of Pomegranate puzzles, both for their texture, thickness, and fit.  The pieces fit so well that it's easy to move finished sections around.  This puzzle in particular has such a range of bright colors that it was really fun to play with.  There is no copyright on the puzzle itself (though the painting is dated 1972), but looking at the Pomegranate website it seems this one is out of print, so I was lucky to get it secondhand.