Cricut Cutting Mats 101
Cricut Cutting Mats 101
Cricut has 4 standard mats. Like Silhouette mats, they vary in stickiness and strength and are color-coded for ease of use.
This mat has a light adhesive that is great for lightweight materials like standard copy paper, light cardstock, vellum, construction paper, and light vinyl. It is a light grip and releases the paper easily once it cuts.
This mat has a medium-strength adhesive that works well for medium-weight materials like heavy card stock, adhesive vinyl like 651 or 631, HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl), and stencil vinyl. Also good bonded fabric, marine vinyl, faux leather, and suede.
The adhesive on this mat lasts a long time. You should be careful because it is stronger than you might think, so test your material for release before cutting your project.
This mat has a very strong adhesive, the strongest in the Cricut family of mats. This mat is designed to hold heavy-weight materials like glitter cardstock, poster board, chipboard, magnet sheets, leather, Balsa Wood, and basswood. Because of the strength of the adhesive, it will hold heavy items that may tend to shift on the lighter grip mats.
I suggest testing your material on this mat to be sure it does not damage the material when being removed from the mat.
This mat is a bit newer and is designed for, you guessed it. Fabric! The design is intended for unbonded fabric for use with the Cricut Rotary blade. Other materials would be quilting cotton, Canvas, denim, Knit, felt, flannel, and any other lightweight. material. I do not recommend using this mat for other materials. It really is specifically for fabric.
*NOTE: The Cricut Rotary blade only works with the Maker and Maker 3 machines
The NEW card mat for Cricut Explore and Cricut Maker. This mat came along a year or so ago with the Small Cricut joy. This mat is specially designed to cut folded greeting cards. More on this mat is coming posts.
~~Holly