Card craft tool essentials - Cutting Mat

An essential item for any crafter is a cutting mat, this enables you to cut card on your mat with a craft knife. To be honest I also use my mat as a gluing surface, a size guide, and a collector for all those little slivers of paper which are easier to dispose of when on a mat than on a table or other work surface.

There are two sorts of cutting mat: self-healing plastic and tempered glass. The choice is yours, but here are a few words of experience.

When you cut using a self healing mat your knife will likely cut into the mat and mark it. DON'T PANIC. The mat being self healing, will reform back over itself returning to a smooth surface.

Repeated usage and gouging will result in the reformed surface being less smooth. I have not encountered this myself as yet - my mat is still fine although I only craft for pleasure rather than as a business.

When I first started crafting the cutting mat of choice was a 'self healing' mat, and to this day I still use my A4 self healing mat as it is easy to transport and is comparably light.

As at January 2012 a A4 self healing cutting mat is between £3 and £6 depending on the make of the board and the supplier. Other sizes are available.

More recently there has been a move to glass cutting mats. You will find with a glass cutting mat the craft knife glides across the surface much more smoothly without digging into the glass. This is most useful for extended periods of crafting as it is easier on the hand.

The smallest glass cutting mat I have seen so far is a 13"x13" tempered glass cutting mat and is fractionally larger than the twelve inches to allow it to hold a standard piece of 12" x 12" paper. The glass in a cutting mat should be tempered so that it is not going to break during usual usage (even with the very occasional dropping.)

As at January 2012 a square 13" glass cutting mat is between £8 and £12 depending on the make and the supplier. Other sizes are available.

Benefits of the glass mat over the self heal mat are that for extended use of a crafting knife your wrist and hand will hurt less if you use a glass mat, you will also be able to use a glass mat for blending colours like a palate.

Benefits of the self heal mat over the glass mat include its lighter weight and price.