Tips and Tricks: Detailed cutting, on thick craft foam, with a Cricut®–cleanly!

Ever have difficulty cutting foam cleanly on a Cricut machine? Foam poses a significant challenge, and  this is especially true when attempting to cut smaller shapes or any type of detail. 

Machine: Cricut Explore Air 2
Foam: unspecified brand
Thickness: varies
Mat: Strong Grip (purple)

The trick I found useful was to cut the foam in 2 passes. Pass 1 uses the Fine-Point blade but the setting for Craft Foam, normal pressure. When the cut is complete, and the mat is fed out (but not all the way), keep the mat in place and do not feed and remove from the machine. Replace the blade with the Deep-Point blade, and do a second pass with the cutter (press the cut button). The first pass cuts the foam without excess pulling, but it probably does not cut all the way through. The 2nd pass blade slips into the cut already started and finishes the job all the way through. Although not full-proof, I have found this to do a much cleaner job than attempting to cut with more pressure and Deep Cut blade in 1 pass. Make sure to use blades as sharp as possible and burnish foam down tightly to a Strong Grip mat.