Vinyl is one of the most useful crafting materials in the Cricut world. It’s versatile, flexible, and waterproof as well, making it the perfect material for any kind of crafting project with ease. It doesn’t matter whether you are designing some stickers, wall decorations, or even home decals; everything with it is just super easy and beautiful.
Many newbies want to try out vinyl too so that they can make some decent crafts. But they all make a common mistake: using the wrong Cricut mat! Did you know every craft material used for Cricut projects requires a specific mat? If not, then crafting will be extremely hard for you, and you may mess up things often.
Therefore, if you are a new crafter who doesn’t know much about Cricut mats or which mat is the best Cricut Mat for vinyl, then make sure you read this article till the end. Today, I am going to explain to you everything you need to know about vinyl and Cricut mats!
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What Is A Cricut Mat?
Cricut Mat is a flexible plastic sheet that is mainly used by Cricut crafters. It has a sticky area that holds your materials when they are being cut. Once the cutting is done, you will have your designs in perfect shape!
Afterward, you can separate your material and Cricut mat and store them for the next use.
An amazing thing about Cricut mats is that they are reusable; at maximum, they last for 40–50 uses, which makes them a really worthwhile option for your crafts. However, after many uses, they will lose their adhesiveness, and when this happens, make sure to buy new ones or try to make them sticky again with adhesive sprays.
Cricut Mat Storage Ideas
Read this blog post, if you’re new to Cricut Mats.
Lastly, there are four different types of Cricut mats, which include:
- Blue mat
- Green mat
- Purple mat
- Fabric mat
All these mats have different grips and colors, which can easily help you differentiate between them. Not to mention, each mat uses different materials, which is why people often get confused and use the wrong mats with the wrong materials.
What Cricut Mat Is Best For Vinyl?
There are four different Cricut mat types, and only the Standard (Green) mat works best with vinyl.
It’s because the Standard mat has a medium grip—not too light nor too heavy, which is perfect for a material like vinyl. Blue mats have the lightest grip, purple mats have the strongest grip, and fabric mats can be used only for fabrics. None of them work well for vinyl; using these mats can ruin your projects and damage the material, which is why the Standard Mat is the best Cricut Mat for vinyl.
Furthermore, vinyl isn’t the only material that works well on the standard mat; some other materials, like embossed cardstock, normal cardstock, iron-on vinyl, textured paper, and pattern paper, are some materials you should use the standard mat with. That’s why you should never forget that green mat is the only mat that should be used for decent materials like vinyl.
What Color Mat Should You Use For Vinyl?
Green mat, also known as “standard mat,” is the best choice for vinyl.
It has a medium grip, which will easily help your vinyl stay in the same place, resulting in a perfectly shaped cut. As I mentioned before, a blue mat can’t be used with vinyl because it doesn’t have a strong grip.
Your material is much more likely to slip through it, which will result in a bad cut. Avoid purple mat for vinyl too since it has a really strong grip. It may hold your material properly, but while separating them, your material can get damaged, which isn’t good at all.
Using other mats than the standard one for vinyl is just a waste of time, money, and effort. So make sure you avoid such mistakes and create some amazing crafts.
Can You Use A Cricut Fabric Mat For Vinyl?
Unfortunately, no! The pink mat, also known as the fabric mat, is specially made for fabric and clothing-related projects.
It’s the newest type of mat on Cricut, and manufacturers recommend customers use this mat only for fabrics. Just like the blue mat, it has a really light grip, which means it won’t make a great vinyl Cricut mat.
Not to mention, many people have found that out of all mats, the pink mat is the hardest to clean; sometimes they even need to replace it. And if you try to use vinyl on such a mat, it will be a big loss of money and materials. So make sure you always avoid using pink mats as vinyl Cricut mats.
Standard Grip Mat: Tips & Tricks
Since now you know that the Standard (green) mat is the best Cricut mat for vinyl, it’s time to take a look at some tips and tricks about it so that you can create even better crafts and projects:
- Clean your mat after every use with a spatula or an old plastic card to increase its durability.
- Never use heavy materials like leather or wood on the green mat; it may damage your Cricut machine.
- Instead of storing them in boxes, hang them on the wall so that they can be available whenever you need them.
- If it looks like it has lost its adhesiveness, use adhesive spray to make it sticky again.
- Avoid using lightweight materials like paper, light cardstock, and vellum, and use only medium-weight materials like vinyl.
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