How to Make Cricut Mat Sticky Again: Top 3 Methods
Do you want to know how to make Cricut mat sticky again? You have come to the right place! In this blog, I am going to share 4 simple ways that will extend the life of your Cricut mat. I have personally tried all these cleaning methods, which I will tell you about later in this blog. As a Cricut user, I clean my mats frequently.
But the question is, how to protect cutting mats for Cricut from getting dirty? Well, you can’t always protect it from debris or any dust. However, timely cleaning can help you maintain the stickiness of your mat. So you don’t need to worry about it, as I have already covered everything in this post.
Despite this, I will explain each method clearly with the help of images. Moreover, the following cleaning methods will only apply to three types of mats: blue, green, and purple. Therefore, these methods will not work for cleaning your pink mat.
How to Keep Cricut Cutting Mats Clean?
Below, I am sharing 3 tips that will help you maintain the stickiness on your mat. Plus, these effective tips will help you extend the life of your Cricut mats:
1. Use the Right Mat With Different Materials
You should know that we can’t use the same Cricut mats for every material. All four types of mats possess different adhesive strength. A hard material such as glitter cardstock, chipboard, and backed fabric will require a Purple StrongGrip mat.
Likewise, the lighter materials are apt with LightGrip mats, and using them with a StrongGrip mat can tear the materials. Thus, it is essential to use the right mat with the right materials.
2. Clean Regularly With the Cricut Scraper
Cleaning up the mat with the help of a Cricut scraper tool or credit/debit card is one of the best methods. These tools can help you remove the scraps and other debris from your cutting mat.
3. Replace the Plastic Protective Sheet
You might have noticed a transparent protective sheet on Cricut mats. This is basically used for keeping the mat clean from dust particles. Ensure you always cover the mat using this sheet after your cutting is done.
What Supplies Will You Need for Cleaning Cricut Mats?
In order to learn how to make Cricut mat sticky again, you need to gather some supplies for cleaning your mats. Below are a few items that you will need to clean cutting mats. Also, these materials are affordable and easily accessible.
Below are the essential items that you can use to clean up the mats:
- Cricut scraper tool
- Lint roller
- Dish brush
- Paper towels to dry
- LA’s Awesome Cleaning spray for heavy cleaning
- Dish soap for medium cleaning
- Baby wipes (alcohol-free and bleach-free) for light cleaning
Note: In order to make your mat sticky again, you should avoid using adhesive such as spray adhesive, glue, or painter’s tape.
How to Clean a Cricut Cutting Mat?
Now, let’s come to the main question: how to make a Cricut mat sticky again? Remember the following methods will be helpful for three types of mats such as blue, green, and purple. So, let me start with blue and green mats first.
Method 1: Clean the Blue Mat Using Baby Wipes
First of all, use a scraper to remove the large size of debris or leftover materials. Once done, you can take alcohol or bleach free baby wipes to clean your mat. But do you think water alone will clean your entire mat? Of course NOT!
Hence, you should take a small amount of cleaner and then rub baby wipes on the mat in a circular motion.
Remember: you have to apply so much effort to clean your mat using baby wipes.
After cleaning, you can let it dry. Soon, you will get your stickiness back. Despite these, try to use the lint roller as it can easily pick up the leftovers.
Method 2: Clean the Green Mat With Dawn Dish Soap
Now, here I will explain how to make Cricut mat sticky again, especially for the StandardGrip green mat. To clean this green mat, you can use Dawn dish soap. Just add a few drops of Dawn soap and rub it in a circular motion using a brush.
Method 3: Clean the Purple Mat With Awesome Spray
Cricut mat, which is purple in color, has a stronger grip and is used for thicker materials. Therefore, it requires a stronger cleaning agent, like LA’s Totally Awesome Spray. You can get this spray from any store.
To clean this mat, you need to spray the cleansing liquid and let it sit for 5–10 minutes. Then, take a scraper tool to remove the leftover from the surface. Make sure you are using the lighter pressure. Finally, we have come to the end of this blog, and you might have an idea regarding how to make Cricut mat sticky again.
FAQs
Question 1: Do I need to clean my Cricut mat frequently?
Answer: You don’t need to clean your mat again and again. However, I would recommend you clean your mat only when you have used your mat for 2 to 4 cuts. In addition, sometimes, we cut different types of materials that leave high amounts of debris, such as glitter vinyl. Hence, in this case, you should try to clean it quite often. Despite this, if you are cutting standard materials like vinyl and paper, then you don’t need to clean the cutting mats for Cricut frequently.
Question 2: When is the right time to buy a new Cricut mat?
Answer: It depends on the usage of your mat. If the mat has been used so many times and has lost the ability to gain its stickiness again, then replace it. But before you go to buy a new one, you should always clean it as it may make your Cricut mat sticky again. Plus, cleaning extends the life of the mat. Besides, Cricut mats are made to last up to 40 to 50 uses.
Question 3: Can I clean a pink-colored Cricut fabric mat?
Answer: Cricut pink mats are specially designed for cutting fabrics. Also, the methods of cleaning pink mats are slightly different from the rest of the mats. In addition, the pink FabricGrip mat comes with a delicate adhesive. Therefore, it is not recommended to scrap or scratch it. But you can clean it using tweezers to remove the large piece of debris. Moreover, you should not use Awesome Spray or other types of harsh chemical-based cleaning agents.
Final Thoughts
In this blog, I discussed how to make Cricut mat sticky again. Besides, the tutorial is dedicated to cleaning the three types of mats only: blue, green, and purple. The pink mat is used for fabric, and we can’t use the same method to clean this mat. However, if you want to clean it then you can use tweezers to remove some pieces of materials. Otherwise, avoid using spray and other harsh chemicals on it. Yet, the blog will be useful for extending the life of our cutting mat.
Read more: cricut.com/setup mac