Are you wondering why your Cricut mat is too sticky? I found a few tricks to take care of that.
Why Is My Cricut Mat Is Too Sticky?
I hear this complaint all the time and I have experienced it too. What can we do if our Cricut mat is too sticky?
At first I thought I was doing something wrong.
I love how the Cricut machine cuts card stock into great shapes, but it’s hard to peel card stock from the Cricut Explore mat when it’s too sticky.
When my Cricut mat is too sticky the card stock comes off but leaves all the pieces you just cut out and stuck to the mat. That is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. Look at the mess I made on this mat. The text was not coming up off the mat nicely.
Now you have 3 options.
1 – scrape your mat to get all the pieces off and it creates a sticky mess like when you are peeling price tags off glass. It doesn’t make for pretty cut out pieces either.
2 – Buy a new Cricut Mat. Sometimes I mess them up so bad I do buy a new one. Ugh
3- Condition Your Mat
Not my favorite part of my Cricut experience so far.
Conditioning Your Cricut Explore Mat If It’s Too Sticky
I found out later that you need to condition the Cricut Explore mat before you use it or you will get an icky mess like I did in the picture above.
The magic of the Cricut machine is the fact that the material you are cutting or writing on, stays put while it is being cut. That is the reason the mat is designed sticky or tacky. But if can be too sticky…for sure.
Different materials need different levels of stickiness, as well. So we do need some extra strong sticky mats for things like Glitter Vinyl. But for everyday vinyl, we just need a little sticky.
Prepare your Cricut mats before you use them to avoid my mistakes.
I did get all the card stock off my mat but was left with a very messed up mat.
How Do You Condition Your Mat?
It’s so simple, you won’t believe it.
- Grab an old tee shirt of your hubbies.
- Wad it up in a ball.
- Dab it all over the new Cricut Explore mat.
- Repeat until lint has coated the mat just a little bit.
I have heard if some take their mat and put it face down on the sofa. But for me, that would be mean dog hair. So don’t do that unless you don’t have pets.
We still want some stickiness, just not too much. Use your hand to gauge the stickiness. You want some stickiness, but not so much you can’t remove your hand easily. Sort of like a cheap band aid stickiness vs one of those super sticky ones.
That’s it! No expensive chemical or item that you need to buy. It’s really that easy.
Cleaning Your Cricut Mat
If you already messed up your Cricut Mat, no worries. You can clean it or go buy new ones. I have done both. New Cricut mats are around $10, so when I messed up my first Cricut mat I did clean it, but I also bought new ones.
I cleaned it with Dawn dish soap and a sponge. There is also stuff at the dollar store called Awesome Cleaner. That did a great job too.
If you decide to buy new mats, here is what you are looking for. Regular is for most vinyl and paper. Lite Grip is for material and some delicate paper, and Strong Grip is for vinyl like glitter or maybe thin chipboard.
Green Regular Grip Cricut Mat – If you have completely messed your new mat up like me, head on over here and grab another.
Blue Lite Grip Cricut Mat – While I was at it, I grabbed a Blue Lite Grip Cricut Mat because I knew I would need it.
Purple Strong Grip Cricut Mat – This mat is perfect for specialty cardstock, glitter cardstock, chipboard, and fabric with stiffener. It’s Cricuts longest-lasting mat, featuring double-life adhesive technology.
Happy Crafting!!!
