White Chalk vs. Iron Off Chalk

We have two chalks that are white! We had someone write us about her white not ironing off well.

The comment was this:

I had to work harder than usual to iron the original white pounce chalk off of my recent quilt. I have two theories and wonder if either might be the reason. #1 - I'm nearing the end of my bag of chalk and have had it for a while. Could age be a factor? (the chalk, not the user). #2 - I was using a homemade stencil that I cut out of plastic template. I know there was a thicker line of chalk and, I would guess, more chalk than usual left on my fabric. I just didn't expect it to be as difficult as it was to remove the chalk.

Thank you so much for your comment. I have an answer.

When you said it was our Original White Pounce Chalk, I immediately knew the problem. It's not that the chalk reached an expiration date. So far, I've not seen such a date, luckily. And it's not the second reason you proposed. The problem was it was not our Iron-Off Chalk. The Original White is basically the same as our color chalk without a color pigment added. It will brush off, and I think that's how you got it to go away without maybe realizing it when you were trying to iron it. I'm sorry you ran into this frustration.

The good news is, if you want to convert that Original White to the Ultimate Iron Off, you need only buy a refill of the Ultimate and switch them out. Remove as much of the Original White as you can. Chances are there will be some that will have to work it's way out. That will be a transitional time when some of the chalk doesn't iron off. That will go away as you get through all the Original White, and at least ironing doesn't heat set anything, so brushing off what's left behind works. I'm so glad you asked this! I've seen others make the same mistake.

The Original White Pounce Pad comes with a red plug in the center of the pad. The Ultimate's plug is clear.