I have the blue pounce that irons off but have not used it yet. When I use the white pounce, I was told to dampen the area with a damp wash cloth and the chalk would stick better. It did better when I use this method. and I don,t pounce the chalk but glide over the stencil. I hope this helps. I will also try the exato knife on my blue stencils. Thanks for that tip.