DSF

http://i.imgur.com/nZjiSd2.jpg

I assume there's water in the mat because there's droplets around the outside of the mat after I press and I assume the water causes this effect you see on the left of the image. I found there was less blotchiness when I pre-pressed the mat for a minute or so but its still not gone completely on any of my prints.

Am I correct about this and is there any permanent solutions at all?

What sort of press? Clam or swing?
I am looking on my phone, and if you are referring to the edge, it could be lack of even pressure.

When I fire a press up I bring it up to temperature then close it for about 30 secs, open for a few then repeat. With the product I pre press, time depends on product, but anything up to 20 secs. Hence never had a problem with moisture.

Janners

Interested in the answer to what type of press you are using !

Clam. I suppose it could be a pressure issue. Is there such a thing as too much pressure?

Lower your press slowly, and look to see if the plate touches the mat evenly, OR does the the plate touch the back of the pad first?

Janners.

Where did you get your mouse mats from? Only reason I ask is I had a very similar issue with some mats last week which I couldn't resolve despite using different pressure and pre pressing for 1 min so i opened a different box of mats to try and the problem was gone and I've not had a problem since with this box of mats. Mine was a swing press btw.

Not enough pressure or not enough time

i use clam, firm pressure, 180c for 50 seconds, (ricoh, truepix and sulbijetr)

try putting some ironing board felt on the bed of your press then press items on top of that . thats tip is solid gold so sssshhhhh dont tell anyone

purple im sure you have shares in ironing board felt