I personally test all my SVG designs on my Cricut Maker (crct. affil. link). Here are my recommendations for best success:

• Use 80# solid-core, quality card stock (quality of paper affects quality of cut)

  • Park Lane Precision Card Stock (amz. affil. link)

  • American Crafts Brand Precision Card Stock (amz. affil. link)

  • Cricut Brand Card Stock (crct. affil. link)

• Set your Materials to “Card Stock for Intricate Cuts”; this will direct the machine to follow the exact same cutting path twice.

• It’s a good idea to run test cuts with your material before forging ahead with a full on design. Through test cuts using a small image such as a star, in a far corner of the material, you can increase or decrease the pressure, as well as increase the number of passes to help determine what provides the cleanest cuts.

• Use a clean Standard Cutting Mat (Green; I often find that the Blue Mat doesn’t offer enough “grip” to hold smaller bits down and those can become attached to the blade, interfering with clean cuts.). You can clean your mats in various ways, but I usually like to apply strips of packing tape to mine, burnish them to the mat with the scraper tool and then “peel away” lint and gunk OR I use baby wipes. Yup, plain old baby wipes, gentle circular motions. Allow the mat to air dry and you’re ready to roll.

  • If the mat is pretty worn and lost all/most of its “stick-um”, replace it. There comes a point when you just need to channel your inner Elsa and let it go . . .

TROUBLE-SHOOTING MESSY CUTS

• Check your mat; it may need to be cleaned of debris. See above tip for cleaning.

• Is your material shifting on the mat? Use a brayer to burnish it firmly to the adhesive on the mat.

• Is your mat in good condition, but just not sticky enough to hold materials in place?

  • You can try using painter’s tape to anchor the edges of the materials down.

  • You can clean the mat thoroughly as described in the previous section and after air-drying, “re-sticky” it by applying Zig Two Way Glue (affil). Tape off the areas outside the grid with painter’s tape to protect it then apply an even, but not thick, coat of the glue; it will go on blue, but dries clear. Allow to air-dry thoroughly to achieve removable “tack”. If the surface is now too sticky, just pat your hands against the surface to help reduce the tack

• Check your blade; you may need to clean it or switch to a new blade for optimal results. Dirty blades may have sticky gunk (a.k.a. adhesive residue) from the mat or tiny bits of lint or paper that cause dragging and raggedy cuts.

• If your blade really is worn/dull/busted at the tip, save yourself the next step and just replace it with a new one.

  • You can clean your blade by removing the housing from the machine, and depressing the ejection button at the top. This will expose the blade. IT’S SHARP, SO KEEP YOUR WITS ABOUT YA’! The blade is held in by magnets; you want to expose the blade tip just enough for cleaning. Umm, how we do ‘dat?

  • Wad up some aluminum foil into a ball and stab (OK, maybe “pierce” is a better word) it with the blade multiple times (20x? 30x? Depends!). This does not sharpen the blade but it removes gunk & stuff. Also, sometimes the foil actually grabs the blade and pulls it out of the housing; as I said before, pay attention. Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any injuries resulting from using this method.