I recently had to purchase new cutting mats for my Cricut Expression. I remember reading somewhere that they were redesigned because of complaints that the paper was sticking too much to the older design. ummmm... hello! THAT"S THE POINT!! with the new design, I'm wasting so much paper, because the paper BARELY sticks to the mat. I have to sit here and rub vigorously for 5 mins on each paper and then babysit the machine and rub right around the blade for every. single. cut. I am beyond frustrated, and hope that after I finish these invitations, I never have to use this machine again.

Does anyone else feel this way or did I get a defective batch. I don't have a million dollars to buy a new package of mats to find this out.

Hi,
I have resprayed my mats several times and they work great, sometimes stick too well at first.
I have two mats that I interchange, used on the imagine.
First I spray them with Goo Gone (great stuff for craft room) scrape the old goo off and then I resprayed them with repositional adhesive made by Krylon, when dry they are ready to use. I also use a brayer to
Make sure paper is stuck down really well on the mat. After cutting I don't leave the paper on the mat too
Long because it tends to want to stick too well and could be hard to get off. That's after they are newly sprayed that is.
These are not my original ideas, I have picked these ideas up from some wonderful crafters who have shared their experiences.
Hope this helps - have a great day.
Annibelle, tx

So if so many crafters are respraying their mats, why hasn't Cricut just offered three different mat types, Low Tack, High Tack, and No Tack. It would seem logical and in their best interest to offer different level for different crafters.

I was so wound up when I read your post as I hate hate hate these flippin mats!!! I reached forward to see if my mats had the black edge and knocked a full cup of camomile tea over my lap top!! They do have the black edge and so did my laptop. I've gone off and put my heart and soul into making flowers to take my mind of my possible ruined lap top after drying it out. Huge relief it's working again and I still hate the mats. They ruin a beautiful machine, I've just told PC so and I await their answer as I've spoken to them before on the same subject.
Pamela

I now keep scotch tape as one of my craftroom "tools". I tape the edges of the paper onto the mat and it cuts like a charm. It's a bit of a pain, but at least I can make the mats work with just the little bit of extra effort

I also very much dislike the new mats, but try the tape and see if that will work for you.

I have been using the sizzix eclipse mats and they work beautifully in my expression. Just the right amount of tackyness!! I ordered mines from OMC -Oh My Crafts and I love them. I was able to get them when they were 50% off with free shipping.

You should try them because I was ready to give up on my machines until someone told me about these mats. I will only use the cricut mats for my imagine.

JTJ

I feel the same way about these new mats. Ugh.. What a waste. Scrapalette, thanks again for posting your comment but what if I were new to cricut and didn't know about this message board? How would a new user know. The activate mat instructions was not posted on my package. As with everything else cricut I own, I should be able to use it directly out the package.

Great thread!
I as well am still using old mats and taping the edges...of course
for whatever reason the more intricate cuts don't cut as well w/o
the tackiness to the mat.

There has been so many great ideas out there for resticky-ing (LOL)
but I agree, you shouldn't have to do so!

But great thoughts in this thread! Thanks for sharing them!

Not sure if this will help, but throwing it out there just in case:

Except for when I am cutting fabric or heavy board, I really like a barely sticky mat. I am using one now that I have had for over a year.

'Barely sticky' is perfect for intricate cuts! No more tears when removing the lacy design from the mat-- perfect for paper lace and ornamental iron cuts!!

Here's the deal to avoid mess ups and moving papers: use Scotch magic tape to tape the corners! This even works on Imagine mats because the the black line is still readable. Sometimes I also use the squeegee and rub over the papers but usually I just use my fingers.

One thing- once I started doing this, I did adjust my settings. My Imagine settings are: Multi cut1, speed 5, pressure 5, blade 4. My Expression settings are: multi cut 1, speed 3, pressure 4, blade 5. For each of those, I found that I had to increase pressure and blade when I started using a 'barely sticky' mat.

When the mat seems to be not at all sticky, I clean it with a baby wipe and let it dry completely. Then, it is back to 'barely sticky'.

I don't use the acetate covering over my mats. I hang them vertically with the sticky side against the one in front.

I hope this helps. It really changed the way I felt about my cuts and I love it. My cuts pop right off and I am a big fan of cutting tiny shapes! Sticky mats always made my cuts curl when I took them off the mat and were only usable when I could adhere them flat. No more!

I hate the new mats too. I only have two of them that I got from Cricut.com. I will not be using those anymore. I went on an extensive search and now have a stockpile of 30 packages of the old ones.

I know I'm a little late on this, but my solution was to buy a 12X24 mat. The pack I got had the old adhesive on it. It was a little more than the 12X12 mats, but I get to use both ends, it's like 2 mats in 1.