Vinyl is a material used in various ways, from making music records to embossed plastic stickers as well as plumbing pipes. Its full name is polyvinyl chloride or PVC. It’s known for its durability and toughness. It also features properties related to being flame-retardant and heat-resistant.
Since it can resist heat and catching fire, is PVC or vinyl safe for microwaving? To be more specific, is Cricut vinyl microwave safe? What is Cricut Vinyl anyway?
Is Cricut Vinyl Microwave-Safe?
Cricut vinyl stickers aren’t microwave-safe. Or to be more specific, vinyl stickers on your crock pots or tumblers will peel off because they depend on the adhesive gluing them onto the plastic, glass, or ceramic surface.
Excessive heat from your microwave or even the dishwasher will weaken the glue. You wouldn’t put your sticker-emblazoned lunchbox into your conventional oven. Don’t think that just because the lunchbox is microwave-safe and BPA-free that the Cricut vinyl sticker is also the same.
Consider instead utilizing glass enamel paint using your Cricut to make a stencil and the like in order to help make a more microwave-friendly design. Or you can use Cricut Premium Vinyl to make your design dishwasher-safe at least.
Is Vinyl in General Microwave-Safe?
Items made of vinyl or partly contains vinyl shouldn’t be microwaved. Vinyl or PVC can give off poisonous fumes that can make your microwave interior smell bad or end up a toxic environment for cooking or even reheating.
Vinyl is even worse than microwave-unsafe plastic containers exuding BPA or plasticizers because the amount of dangerous chemicals it exudes when heated is much more potent and much more concentrated.
This could contaminate the food you’re cooking right now if you heat it with the PVC or in the future if you don’t clean off the microwave after heating up PVC inside it.
What is Vinyl? What is PVC?
Polyvinyl chloride, PVC, or vinyl is the third most widely made synthetic plastic polymer on earth. It’s used for things like old-timey vinyl records, stickers and decals, and PVC plumbing pipes. It’s famous for its durability and ruggedness, not for microwave cooking.
What’s good for records isn’t as good for microwaving. Around 40 million tons of vinyl is produced annually. It comes in two forms—flexible and rigid. Pipes use the rigid form of PVC. It’s also used for construction like profile applications for windows and doors.
Flexible vinyl is more decorative and less rugged. It’s used for things like personalized Cricut stickers, decals, and fashion accessories. Cricut vinyl stickers on your lunchbox will peel right off when microwaved or even put in the dishwasher.
Further reading: 11 Best Microwave Cooking Cookbooks
Is Cricut Vinyl Dishwasher-Safe?
Usually, Cricut vinyl stickers tend to peel off when microwaved or dishwashed. The hot water or heat-inducing microwave radiation does a number on the adhesive as well as the vinyl. This is why Cricut developed something that can survive hot dishwasher temperatures.
Mind you, it’s still a mistake to microwave any vinyl product due to the fumes they exude. However, the Cricut Premium Vinyl collection has more permanent glue that can withstand the rigors of a hot dishwasher machine.
Dishwasher-Safe, UV-Resistant, and Water-Resistant
This permanent edition of the Cricut Vinyl sticker and decal is both UV-resistant and water-resistant. The sticker can last up to three years on your lunchbox, dish, or mug, even if you take them outdoors!
As for the Cricut Mug press, it makes professional-looking customized mugs in minutes with results that are both microwave-safe and dishwasher-safe.
How Do You Make Cricut Vinyl Dishwasher-Safe?
First thing’s first, you should get a Cricut Vinyl Premium Permanent Release. Ordinary Cricut Vinyl peels right off because hot dishwasher water tends to compromise its adhesive. If you want your Cricut Vinyl design to stay on coffee mugs and the like, you need to seal vinyl on it.
Many people don’t bother sealing their mugs. On its own, permanent vinyl does well enough for everyday use as long as you hand-wash it and avoid microwaving the mug itself. In order to truly make your Cricut Vinyl, even the premium one, dishwasher-safe, you need a permanent seal.
It’s not really permanent and it comes off after regular use in 3 years but in those 3 years it won’t peel off after going through the dishwasher cleaning cycle.
What’s the Difference Between Cricut Premium Vinyl Permanent and Cricut Premium Vinyl Removable?
Cricut Premium comes in two types of adhesive vinyl stickers—Permanent and Removable. Let’s talk more in-depth about them down below. To be clear, neither version is microwave-safe so don’t even bother trying to microwave either.
Cricut Premium Vinyl – Permanent Release
As covered above, the permanent version can be sealed in a way that lasts for about 3 years and multiple washings from your dishwasher machine’s hot, foamy, and sudsy cleaning action.
Permanent is the way to go when it comes to personalized Cricut mugs. These sealed designs can withstand washing by hand or dishwashing. Furthermore, the permanent adhesive has a higher tact compared to the removable adhesive.
This permanent vinyl variant is resistant to ultraviolet rays and water. Even when your cup is used for camping, the Cricut can last up to 3 years. You might as well put it on a metal cup though because vinyl anything is never microwave-safe.
Cricut Premium Vinyl – Removable Release
Removable, as its name suggests, is the less powerful adhesive that can be removed in case you want to change up your Cricut designs seasonally or annually.
The whole point of Cricut Removable is that its serviceable adhesive is only temporary yet it holds fast enough to resist gentle hand-washing on the Cricut area. This way, you won’t have to struggle hard to remove one old design in favor of sticking to a new one.
Both vinyl types lay fat on the cutting mat without bubbling or tunneling. Moreover, you can weed and apply with ease every time. Even the most complex of personalized designs can be effortlessly lifted from the carrier sheet to your mug, dish, or lunchbox.
Final Words
Cricut is a product using hundreds of materials and dozens of cutting machines in order for you to make customized apparel for your clothing, fashion accessories, and everyday apparel. You can put these stickers for logos, pictures, and text on most anything.
With that said, Cricut vinyl stickers should never be microwaved. This is because vinyl or PVC isn’t microwave-safe and gives off contaminating fumes when microwaved, much more so than the BPA exuded by non-microwavable plastic containers.
References
- “Microwave and Dishwasher Safe?“, Reddit.com, October 2, 2017
- Shelby Jones, “Make Your Projects Last With New Cricut® Premium Vinyl™ – Permanent“, Inspiration.Cricut.com, June 8, 2018
- Official Cricut, “What is a Cricut Cutting Machine?“, YouTube, October 1, 2020
