Three tried and true methods for cleaning your cricut mats, and one tried and true way to restick them when cleaning is no longer enough.
How to Clean Your Cricut Mats -
My favorite go to method for cleaning mats is using diaper wipes. You want scrub lightly, but hard enough to pull up all of the lint. (I've read that you should use alcohol free wipes for this. Those are easy to find - I usually grab huggies at our local Dollar General) The mat will be sticky again when it dries again. If you are in a hurry, this is definitely your best bet. Not only will it work great but it will dry the fastest of all the methods here.
I love these dishcloths from the Dollar tree with the netting on one side.
My second favorite method is plain old soap and water. The blue dawn dish soap is what is supposed to work best, and it is what I typically have in my kitchen anyway.. but I have used others over the years. squirt on some soap, scrub lightly, rinse. When the mats dry, they will be sticky once again!
LA Awesome Cleaner - $1 At Dollar General & The Dollar Tree
This is a popular method, that I used when I first started, but I think soap and water and diaper wipes work just as well, and they don't smell nearly as bad. But if you want to try it, just spray this stuff on(from the dollar tree) and rinse it off. Let the mat air dry.
When That Stops Working - Tack It Over & Over
I have mats that are two years old, and have been used hard for everything from paper and vinyl to faux leather. Some of them are just not sticky any more, even after a good cleaning. Two coats of Aleenes Tack It Over and Over and I think they are stickier then when I first bought them!
Do not apply it this thick - its not necessary. Thinner coats. :-) That little bottle is going to last forever, even with all the mats I have here.
Mix the Alenes 50/50 with water, and paint it on. This was the first time I did this, and I went pretty thick. I ended up going back later and brushing some of this off to make it a thinner coat. Wait 20 minutes, then apply a second light coat. Let the mat dry for at least 24 hours.
This even worked right over the spots on my mats that have lost their green.
(The new, no flowers on them, cricut mats are not nearly as good as the old ones!)
I ended up letting mine dry for a few days - I would recommend at least two. Maybe less if you use thinner coats. But when they were dry, they were SO sticky! I could use them for faux leather again! I would not use them for paper right away - I'd cut vinyl on them a few times first, they are too sticky for paper right away.
Buying New
Watch amazon for sales - mats go on sale frequently! A two pack of 12x12 mats is almost always $10 or less on sale.
I've used the 3 pack of Nicapa ($9 normally)
and I think they are pretty much identical to the Cricut mats. I'm not fussy about brand names, and own Xinart, Nicapa, HTVRont, and probably more...
The long, 12x24, inch mats are 3 for $24 normally
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An Index Of All Of My Cricut Related Blog Posts
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