Custom made rubber stamps guide to work out the correct size for your stamp design

A question asked a lot is can we make custom made rubber stamps? We reply yes most definitely, you have come to the right place. Order online now for fast delivery. Here at Self-Inking Stamps we have made thousands of custom made rubber stamps since 2006. We have become experts at understanding our customers rubber stamp marking requirements.

We always help to select the right rubber stamp brand and model to deliver the best result. Our custom made rubber stamp experts will ensure you save time and you keep to your budget. So, how can you select your custom made rubber stamp model correctly? Yes, it can be confusing as we sell hundreds of rubber stamp products from this website.

Here are some examples of rubber stamp design requirements that lead to us asking you a particular question.

• The standard size is what I need.
• I need to save time writing the same thing repeatedly.
• I want to make a stamp with my logo and contact details in Napier.
• I need an address stamp for Wellington.
• We need name stamps for each of our team members.
• Our incorporated society in Dunedin needs a common seal.
• Our products need a best before date stamp.
• I need to stamp a number code on our products.
• I am a nurse in Christchurch, and I need a stamp with my name and registration number.
• Our doctors need name stamps with our practice contact and address details and their registration numbers and ACC.
• I am a JP in Palmerston North and need stamps for certifying documents.

All the above, and more, gets done every day here. This might seem uncaring but, as a stamp designer what the stamp mark makes is unimportant to the selection of the right stamp model for you.

You could choose a lower cost brand for short term projects.

You could use a different ink colour to the standard five colours to really make the mark noticeable from every other mark on your paper. Remember to choose on checkout “YES – I want to check it before manufacture” to ensure size and details are correct before a mistake is made that you have paid for. That can be fixed too, and you can ask us about that.

This all leads to our most important question. How big?

What size does this stamp mark need to be? A measurement. Not a subjective term like large or small. A measurement.

After collecting all the information that needs to be in the stamp mark the next most important thing, we will ask about is the size.

You would like a custom logo stamp. OK cool!

Okay this is where it can get hard for us. I have a complex logo is it possible? Well maybe. If it is for a tiny 12mm loyalty card stamp possibly not. That makes the details incredibly small, and a stamp can’t reproduce that. Or the stamp is for carry bags and is 200mm across. You can see with these two examples there is a huge variation on a ‘logo stamp’.

If you have never ordered a custom-made stamp before, how do you know what a big custom-made stamp is, or a small one?

Size is everything. Subjective terms like big, small, “can we make it a bit smaller” do not help you get what you need. It can also make things take longer going back and forth with design changes. A measurement can be dialled in at once and accurately the first time. Can you reduce by 5mm is perfect. Yes, we can do that for you.

How to size your custom-made stamp.

Grab a ruler. Then collect that important information the stamp mark needs to make. Is there a form you are stamping on, and it has a space to mark within? If you are stamping on legal documents make sure you have all the details that the receiver of that document needs. Do you have your incorporated society number? Do you have a paper bag to stamp on?

Is there a label on a product with a space for batch numbers or dates? Is it for an invoice book? What measurement are the rows apart? Does it need a border around it? Is there a colour requirement for the ink? What surface will it be stamped on? Have you got a file of your logo or an image you need in the stamp mark? Can you get that image as a vector image file like .svg, .cdr, .ai or psd?

Another helpful guide to add to all the above is our pdf of stamp sizes. We have this here for you.

With all this important information you can start your design. Don’t send this to us yet. You have not quite got enough information for us to make you a stamp. The design is starting. There is still that important question to be answered. Size.

Time to measure your stamp mark size.

Use your ruler to measure that form. Is it a box to fit in, then measure the height and the width?

Is it lines on a page? How far apart are the lines?

How big is your bag? Then how big should your stamp mark be on that bag?

How about text size? If your font type is important there are differences in length of characters with different fonts. Have a look at Arial and Arial Narrow. This can be useful if you want to keep the length shorter to fit in a particular width. Yes, we can graphically do all sorts of magic to squash and space letters as well to get that last little bit of width right. We do that all the time.

If you have an unusual font, can you send that to us to ensure a perfect reproduction of that font for you. If you are looking for free fonts that we can also use, we find dafont.com is a great place to browse.

You can use a computer and a word processor program like Microsoft Word or Google Docs and the rulers on the top and side will help. Type out your text and look for the rulers to get a measurement.

You can also start the other way around and look at our pdf of stamp sizes find one that fits your size and budget and then see if all the details you need will fit in there. Use your word processor to measure your text length. Change fonts and see if you can get it all in there.

Important fact here. Font size is critical. We recommend smallest font size to be 6.5 point. Why? If you go smaller the ink in the pad can often bubble over hooped letters like a, d, e and the likes. Do you remember blowing bubbles as a kid? Same thing here. Except the bubble is the ink colour. The centres of those hooped areas go solid. Not a good look.

We have achieved fonts being readable down to 5 points. We do not recommend that. The text was left in the stamp mark as a gamble, and it didn’t matter if it was not readable. We were astounded it worked. However, since upgrading our machine with higher 120W power and engraving at high 1,000 DPI at higher speed some amazing detail can be achieved. Do not count on that. Stamps are fickle things and are not equal to modern printing machines.

We always test our stamps to ensure they are marking and readable before packing for shipping. Sometimes it is hard to tell any difference between the ink jet printer and the stamp mark. They can be astounding. Broad areas of ink however are troublesome and mottle for a stamp.

Which custom made stamp body to select?

Now that you have a size matching that to a stamp body becomes much easier. Self-inking stamps are manufactured on mass in factories at lower cost. However, these are limited to each size or body shape. To make a really odd shape or a really large stamp then the selection goes to the traditional hand stamp with a separate ink pad.

Also stamping on a curved surface like a coffee cup stamp then the hand stamp is the best choice. These custom hand stamps can be made to ANY size and are priced to the millimetre in width x height. Yes, there is that size measurement again. Shapes of the image can lead to shapes of body.

Body shapes for self-inking stamps come in:

• Rectangular shaped rubber stamps
• Square shaped rubber stamps
• Round shaped rubber stamps
• Oval shaped rubber stamps

Remember this – Any shape can go in any stamp body. Size can override stamp body shape.

The most common shape used however is rectangle. You can find these here. Look for width and height details on each stamp model to find a size that is right for you.

There are maximum sizes that fit square, round or oval stamps. To go larger all of those shapes can be accommodated on larger rectangle bodies like the Trodat 5211 and the Trodat 5212. Those larger rectangle shaped stamps are in the Professional grade machines. Largest self-inking stamp image size is 68.8mm by 114.8mm.

Sometimes budget restricts affordability of these massive stamps and the cost effective way then is to go to a custom hand stamp. Check the prices listed on the stamps to see their completed price. Often a custom hand stamp is more affordable in the larger stamp sizes.

IMPORTANT. Body size and image size are different.

While a self-inking stamp has a base plate to mount a rubber die on the rubber die is slightly smaller.

We have found that largest image size can often not mark clearly on the edges. Also, if a border is around the image if that is close to the edge then getting a full ink coverage can be a bit hit and miss. Plus, the rubber die engraving is tapered. The surface that touches the paper has a tapered rubber base under it to the depth of cut in the rubber.

This helps to support the high part and stabilises it. When lines get thin, they can go wobbly and mark a wiggly line on your paper. With the taper underneath the high part, it is better supported, and a precise mark can be made. Over time the rubber wears down and the letters and lines become thicker on a stamp mark due to that taper.

What is the difference in stamp image size?

We take off 1.2mm from the stamp plate size. This gives 0.6mm from the plate edge on each size to allow for taper on the rubber and a nudge of space to clear the pad edge.

A stamp size of 47 x 18mm gives a maximum 45.8mm x 16.8mm image size.

Or a 42mm round stamp gives a 40.8mm round diameter image size.

Wow fractions of a millimetre? Yes. Our laser machine can engrave fine detail. So fine sometimes the rubber gets shorter in the vaporisation process. These shorter parts don’t get to make contact with the paper and make a mark. With experience we know that a line thickness or a part of a letter must be 0.2mm thick to reliably mark every time.

For fonts like Times New Roman with a thick and thin side to each character we check the line thickness on the thin side. If the font is small the thin side can have this ‘shorter’ part happen. We then override and thicken all the letters by around 0.05 to 0.088mm. However, selecting a font of even thickness like Arial or Calibri we find better stamp marks result.

Help is always at hand.

If trying to find the perfect stamp body is too much or too slow, we can help.

However, a lot of the size, font, image requirements above we still need to know. If we do not have what measurement the stamp mark needs to be it makes it hard for us.

Sometimes just from the text provided we guess. Yep guess. A starting point. We have seen a few stamps over time and get a feeling for what might work.

We might start with 12-point font size, say Calibri as the font and see how big that is.

Then match that to the nearest stamp body size. Maybe make some graphic design tweaks to fit. Change row heights. Character spacing. Squash it a bit. Try a different font. Thicken letters. Hey presto your completed design.

We make designs, the proof sheet, and email these as a pdf to you so you can print it out at actual size. This is critical to meet your expectations of what you are paying for is what you will receive.

This can be a starting point for more development. You can help us with more information to get the image right for you before anything is made. Or you might love it and say make it.

How long does it take to make a custom made rubber stamp?

For a custom made rubber stamp timeline we generally advise the following:

1. Next working day for a proof, or again for a re-proof
2. Less than a day to manufacture
3. After payment is received (this stage is not needed for Schools) it will get on the next 3pm courier pick up. Generally next working day delivery or a nudge longer for rural delivery. 

Most orders take three days to having it in your hands and going crazy with excitement stamping everything in sight. All right, only some people get that excited.

Our Happy Customers have a lot to say about our stamp products and services!