Cricut mats are sticky and the level of stickiness dictates how secure the grip is.
Cricut light grip mat not sticky.
When you first get your mat or after you restick your mat it will probably be too sticky especially for light or medium weight materials.
You can condition or prime your cutting mat to make it less sticky.
That is the reason the mat is designed sticky or tacky.
This is to prevent any adhesive that is added from getting onto the edges which may interfere with your machine s rollers.
Then wipe an alcohol free baby wipe or roll a lint roller over the surface.
In order to keep your mat sticky for as long as possible it s a good idea to clean it regularly.
Though to be honest it can be a little overly sticky when brand new.
The stronger the grip the heavier the material like chipboard or thick card stock you can cut and the lighter the grip the thin or lightweight materials like regular paper and vinyl you can cut.
Prepare your cricut mats before you use them to avoid my mistakes.
When you first open your cricut mat you ll notice that they are super sticky.
Often times i find that i have to dull the adhesive using a shirt or towel so that it doesn t damage my materials.
Step 1 remove any remaining stickiness to ensure the adhesive spray will evenly coat the mat.
It s important to not make the edges sticky so they won t ruin the cutting machine.
But if can be too sticky for sure.
After a dozen or so cuts mats will lose their sticking power.
Make sure that you use alcohol and bleach free wipes if you don t you might find that the wipes permanently destroy any hope of making your cricut mat sticky again.
The green mat is not too sticky and not too under sticky it s just standard.
Give your mat a light cleaning when it loses some of its stickiness.
First scrape it off with a plastic scraper either cricut brand or any other type of hard plastic scraper.
The fabricgrip mat is a bit thicker and stronger than the other mats but isn t as sticky it s intended to just keep the fabric in place as the rotary blade or bonded fabric blade travels over it.
The cricut standard grip mat.
However in doing so this accelerates the wear on the adhesive.
Start with 1 coat.
If your cricut mat is just a little dirty it might be best to start with a baby wipe to gently wash away any material build up that s been gathering.
The green standard grip mat is included with the cricut explore air 2 while the blue light grip mat is included with the cricut maker.
The rotary blade doesn t drag on the material the same way the standard fine point blade does.
Apply plain rubbing alcohol or goo gone on the surface then go over it with a scrapper.
Before you restick your cricut or silhouette cutting mat it s important to tape around all the edges.
Once the edges of the mat are taped use a spray adhesive or glue stick.