Tips for a New Silhouette Cutting Mat
I just love a new, fresh cutting mat for my CAMEO. My cuts are suddenly perfect again when the paper has a nice tight hold on the mat. (It’s almost as good as a new blade.)
Here are a few tips and tricks for getting along with a really sticky cutting mat.
1. Only use heavier cardstock and pattern paper for the first 10 or so sheets. The lightweight papers (copy paper, lightweight one-sided pattern paper, vellum, etc.) are just a little too delicate to remove from the strong grip of a new mat.
I’ve been known to take a full sheet of 12×12 plain cardstock and put that same sheet on and off the same mat 10 times without even cutting. You may hear people say to dab it with a lint-free cloth (like a T-shirt), but I personally stay away from that method because I’m afraid I’ll lose all that glorious strong hold too quickly.
2. To avoid paper curling (even with heavy cardstock), pull your mat away from the paper, instead of pulling your paper from the mat.
To do this, you can:
(A) Flip the whole thing upside down and pull your mat up off the paper (make sure your surface below is very clean so your mat doesn’t collect everything it touches), or
(B) Drag the mat across and down the edge of a desk or table so the mat is doing the bending, and not your paper. As the edge of the paper cut pops off the bent mat, carefully remove the paper to try and keep it as flat as possible. (See image below.)
Don’t worry about bending your mat. It’s plastic and is made to be flexible. I’ve bent my mats many, many times and have never had a warp left in my mat. It always lays flat again.
3. If you still end up with curled paper, you can generally just gently bend it back the opposite direction of the curl to get it flat enough. And did you know you can iron it flat? Works fine.
4. I’ve had some new mats leave a faint sticky residue on the back side of my paper. Usually I’ll just make sure it’s not something I need both sides for (not a big deal if you’re gluing it down anyways, right?) until the mat stops leaving any residue after several projects. Or you can use an adhesive eraser to remove the light bit of stickiness.
Hopefully these tips are helpful to you. Please let me know in the comments if you have questions, or if there’s another Silhouette topic you’d like me to cover.
Thank you for this post – I LOVE the tip about running the mat over the edge of the desk – perfect! Love my Cameo, but the new mat stickiness is frustrating!
Glad you found that tip helpful. 🙂
Wow! Thank you for all the great tips! I just pulled out a new mat and I love the tip on pulling the mat away rather than the paper.
I have a question about blades. I've had my Cameo for about a year. I've used it a lot and love it. How often do you replace your blades? I am sure my Cameo is not getting the same amount of use as yours, but I'm kind of surprised I have gone through 2. I'm wondering if I am doing something wrong. I haven't used a lot of difficult materials in cutting, usually Bazzill weight cardstock. Thank you for all your tips and any tips you can share on blades!
I think 2 blades in a year with moderate use is quite good. The amount of time your blade lasts will depend a lot on what you're cutting. The heavier or more coarse the material, the sooner your blade will dull. I'd say cutting vinyl is easiest on the blade, and Bazzill cardstock is on the wear-down-quicker end of things. The worst culprit is chipboard, so I will often save an older duller blade just for chipboard and put it as deep as necessary to still get good cuts, ignoring the suggested settings.
I date my mats and know I get about 4 months out of each one, but I don't date my blades and it's harder to say. I'd estimate I get 3-6 months of use from each blade (with fairly heavy use).
It's nice to have spare blades on hand at all times, so I also suggest watching the price for Silhouette blades on Amazon. I've seen them as low as $8-9 and then buy several.
Great tip – such a simple solution to curling card.
Hilary
[ Smiles ] Nicely done, Kelly.
You are quite skilled at what you do!
Thank you so much!
Over 2 years later, this article is still helpful, just cut my first thing with my brand new cameo, and of course the first thing I used was a piece of printer paper. and it started to curl. Google lead me right to your article, thank you for posting!
So glad you found me, George, and thanks so much for letting me know this article was helpful. Comments like that really brighten my day!
really helpful tips for a newbie – thanks so much!
You’re welcome, Kat. I’m happy to help!
Thanks, very interesting. I am new to this, only planning to buy a plotter. I’m wondering is it possible to cut through laminated paper? I’ll have to use a carrier but I don’t want to have any glue left on the cut paper. Do you think there will be any glue residues on the laminated paper? (I mean paper that is put in a film poach and then put through a heated rolls)
Excuse me for my English.
That’s a good question, Natalya. You can cut thin laminated sheets with a Silhouette machine (3 mil is what I’ve seen people use). You would need a PixScan mat instead of a regular mat so your machine can find exactly the right place to cut. I found a tutorial here that might be helpful. I have never had an issue with my PixScan mat leaving a sticky residue, although I’ve had some newer standard mats leave a slight residue. I think it would be easy to get any residue off laminated paper because it’s slick. I hope that helps!