Rubber Stamp maker

A rubber stamp is still one of the quickest ways to put the same information on paper again and again: an address on envelopes, "Received" on incoming mail, a logo on boxes, a feedback mark on homework. The templates on this page let you lay out that stamp online first, check it in a live preview, and then export a file you can use digitally or hand to a stamp manufacturer.

A rubber stamp carries raised text or artwork on a rubber or polymer die. Ink moves from a pad to the raised areas and then onto paper when you press. Rubber became practical for this after Charles Goodyear developed vulcanization in 1839, which made the material stable enough to hold a shape. By the late 1800s custom rubber stamps were ordinary office equipment, and later designs added self-inking and pre-inked mechanisms that keep the ink inside the stamp.

Today most dies are produced from a digital artwork file, either by laser engraving or by exposing photopolymer through a film. That is why a clean design file matters as much as the stamp hardware.

• Office and admin: "Received", "Paid", "Approved", "Copy" or "Confidential", often with a date line or an initials box.
• Return address: name, street, city, state and ZIP on three or four lines.
• Branding: a logo with the business name and website for packaging, bags and cards.
• Approval blocks: a "Checked by ____ Date ____" panel that staff fill in by hand.
• Teaching and crafts: feedback marks such as "Great work" or "See me", and decorative motifs for cards, scrapbooks and fabric (with fabric ink).

Write the wording down before you choose a template. The amount of text drives the shape and size more than anything else.

Rubber stamps come in three main mounting styles:

• Traditional mount with a separate ink pad: a wood or acrylic block. You can change ink colors, and it suits occasional use or larger designs.
• Self-inking: the die flips onto a built-in pad between impressions. Fast and clean for daily office work.
• Pre-inked: the ink is held in the die material itself, which gives sharp impressions and suits detailed designs.

Self-inking and pre-inked models have a fixed impression area, so choose the model first and design to its size. Rectangles are the default for text-heavy stamps such as addresses and status marks. Circles suit seals and logo badges with curved text. Ovals hold long names comfortably, and triangles are mostly used for decorative or craft stamps.

Open a template close to your layout and adjust it with production in mind:

1. Replace the sample text. Use straight text for address or status lines and curved text for round designs, and set the font, size, letter spacing and position so nothing touches the border.
2. Set the outline and size: circle, oval, rectangle or triangle, at a standard size or custom dimensions that match the impression area of your mount.
3. Pick a border: single, double, triple, dashed, dotted or vintage. Solid single and double borders reproduce most reliably on rubber.
4. Keep it one color. A rubber stamp prints whatever ink is on the pad, so the color in the file only affects your preview and any digital copies.
5. Turn off the aging effect and keep opacity at 100% for production artwork. A distressed texture in the file would be engraved into the die as real gaps.
6. Check line weights. Hairline borders, very thin strokes and small text can fill in with ink or break up. Ask your manufacturer for their minimum line thickness and text size, and stay above it.

If you prefer to describe the stamp in a sentence and edit from there, the drafts a layout that opens in the same editor.

SealsDigital makes the design file; it does not manufacture physical stamps. The path to a finished rubber stamp looks like this:

1. Proofread the design in the live preview at actual size. Check spelling, numbers and spacing.
2. Export PNG + SVG + EPS ($2.90). SVG and EPS are vector formats that keep edges sharp at any size, which is what most stamp manufacturers and engravers ask for. The PNG is handy for showing the design to colleagues.
3. Send the vector file to a stamp manufacturer with the exact impression size, the mount type and the ink color you want. Most manufacturers ask for right-reading (not mirrored) artwork and mirror it themselves; confirm with yours.
4. Approve a proof before production, and compare it against your file for size and line weight.

Our covers the questions engravers usually ask, and gives a checklist for that final review.

The same template can also serve as a digital stamp. Export a transparent PNG ($2.50, at 1x, 3x or 10x) for PDFs and printed forms, or all six formats ($3.50: PNG, JPG, SVG, EPS, PDF and DOCX) if you also need Word and PDF versions. Designing and previewing are free, and a single export needs no account. A digital stamp image is artwork; it is not a digital signature and does not verify who applied it.

• Designing large and then shrinking to a small self-inking mount, leaving text too small to print
• Leaving the aging effect on in production artwork
• Using thin decorative fonts that break up on rubber
• Sending a low-resolution PNG to a manufacturer instead of SVG or EPS
• Skipping the proof

For more practical reading, browse our .

Does SealsDigital make and ship rubber stamps?

No. SealsDigital is an online design tool. You export the artwork and order the physical stamp from a stamp manufacturer.

Which file format do stamp manufacturers want?

Usually a vector file, SVG or EPS. The PNG + SVG + EPS export includes both, but confirm the preferred format with your manufacturer.

Do I need to mirror the design before sending it?

Usually not. Most manufacturers ask for right-reading artwork and mirror it when they make the die. Follow their instructions if they say otherwise.

Can one rubber stamp print more than one color?

A standard stamp prints the single ink on its pad. Multi-color pads exist, but they do not place colors precisely, so design rubber stamp artwork in one color.