I would find a piece of furniture or other object with a large flat surface, flip the mat over, cover it with corregated cardboard and then masking tape the cardboard down, completely protecting the cutting mat from folds, bends or bumps. If you attach the mat to the back or underside of an object, the tape residue would not be an issue.

Congrats on the move, South Carolina is beautiful. See if you can find out where they will store it. It may be in a semi-temperature controlled building and calliope's suggestion would work great. If not I would be afraid it would still get too hot.

beverly

Thanks for the idea! Maybe we'll get lucky & find a place right off so we won't have to be in storage.

If it's taped down very flat, it can survive some heat. Packaging it is the key.

If your sofa is big enough, you can put it under the cushions.

Or between a mattress and boxspring! I fixed a badly creased one by leaving it under a mattress for a couple months.

Wonderful idea! Maybe I can get the movers to slide the cutting mat underneath one of the mattresses when they box it up.

The problem with the mattress idea is the movers often turn them upright, on the edges, for moving, even though the mattresses are supposed to be flat.

Sandwich the mat between two large flat pieces of cardboard, tape all the edges, and then put it in a dresser or chest drawer, if you have one big enough.

If you secure it between to really heavy pieces of cardboard (check appliance stores for their shipping boxes) and seal all the edges with heavy tape, if should be okay.

Carol...survivor of 9 military moves!

I'm more concerned with heat.

My mat was never abused or exposed to any kind of extreme heat and yet it shrunk. Not a lot, just enough that if I used the printed lines it threw everything off. Here I was using the acrylic ruler lines for some measuring and the mat for others. The result--wonkiness. Till I figured it out when the ruler sat on the mat one day and I realized the lines were off.

I wrote to Fiskars and they sent me a new mat. I've since learned using the printed lines isn't a good idea even when they're new.

So try and keep it flat and cool and you should be okay. Or mail it to your new location and get insurance on it. If the PO messes it up, you'll get a new one at your new location without worrying about the hows, whys and what-ifs.

And I agree, South Carolina is a beautiful location. Best of luck with the move. I forsee a surge in creative motivation in your future.

Dianne

Just to clarify...
What I was thinking with the mattress idea was that you move the cutting mat yourself (rolled), then store it under your mattress until you need it. It's out of the way and also out of the heat.

kate

Diane, Thanks for your well wishing, and I hope you are right about the creativity! Thanks also to everyone who left suggestions!

Mine went in a box along with the mirror from my dresser. It was in a huge box and also had it's own layers of cardboard around it. It did not get rolled in anyway....it was also stored for 5 months along with my furnature in a controlled heat environment. No problems at all. It's moved now 3 times and still in great shape. Good luck.