How to clean a Cricut Cutting Mat?
Anyone who uses Cricut cutting mats know that they can get dirty and sticky very quickly and they are expensive to keep replacing. So the big question is, how do I clean my Cricut mat? It does not matter what colour your mat is or even if it is an off brand mat. Yoo can clean them all the same way!
Well that’s a very easy question to answer. There are many ways and I am going to tell you just a few of them.
The first one is good for a mat that is not too dirty but has just lost its stickiness. Simple soap and water and then hang up to dry. Do not dry with anything as it will instantly lose its stickiness. If you were to try and dry it for example with a paper towel you would just make it fluffy and have to start all over again!
A very similar one to this to use alcohol free baby wipes. This method will also remove a certain amount of dirt as well. It is as simple as rubbing the mat with the wet wipe until its clean and then once again make sure you hang it up to dry naturally. If you can let it dry outdoors all the better.
Now if you cut a lot of card and your mat is too sticky you will often get a very dirty mat very quickly. The first thing you need to do here is to scrape off as much of the excess card with a plastic scraper before you start to clean it. If you feel that your mat has lost all its stickiness you will need to use something like a repositionable glue. It is very important before you apply the glue that you have taped around the edge of the mat as you do not want to get the glue on the edges where the mat rolls through the machine. The glue can be bought as a spray or a liquid to paint onto your mat. Either will work but I prefer the spray as it gives a more even coat.
On average if you clean your mats this way you can make them last between 30 and 40 times longer. If you imagine throw your mat away instead of cleaning it every time, you could be throwing away the equivalent of around $300 to $400. Just think what you could spend that money on in your favorite Craft store?
