How to design a self-inking stamp

What you can make

Self-inking rubber stamps with your own design: an address, a company stamp, a logo, a signature line, a teacher’s “checked” stamp, or a date stamp. Choose the stamp first, then design what it prints.

Before you start

• All you need is a web browser, on a computer or a phone. There is nothing to install.
• You do not need an account to design or to order. You only need one to save a design and come back to it later.
• Everything you add can be moved, changed or deleted until you approve your proof. Nothing is printed before that.

Choosing your stamp

1. Open the stamp you want in the shop and press Add your design →.
2. The price box shows Your stamp, with Change the stamp to pick another size, the ink colour and Stamp Qty.
3. Press Start designing.

Starting your design

On the product page, press Start designing. You are asked How would you like to start?

• Pick a ready-made design, if there are any for this product, and change it to suit you.
• Design it myself opens an empty stamp.
• Our designers draw it for you: tell us what you want, attach your logo or examples if you have them, and we draw it. There is a design fee per design, shown on that card before you order, as its own line in your basket.
• Email us your artwork later: order now and send us your finished file afterwards. Its card has a template for your exact size, and your order email says where to send the file.

Finding your way around

On a computer, your stamp is in the middle. The list of pages runs down the side: Design, Text and the rest, ending with Stamp. The price is at the bottom of the side panel and updates as you go. Along the top are Save, Help (this guide, in a new tab), Menu, and the undo and redo arrows.

On a phone, your stamp fills the screen.

• The round + button adds things: Text, Graphics, Shape, Border and Templates.
• The price at the top opens Stamp.
• The bar at the bottom has Menu, Undo, Redo, Save and Finalise. Menu → Help: how to use this designer opens this guide.
• When something is selected, a button above the canvas, such as Edit text, opens its settings.

Your design: the list of everything on it

Design shows Your design: every item on your stamp, one per line. When it is empty, big buttons offer the ways to start.

• Click a line, or the item itself, to select it.
• The eye hides an item or shows it again. The arrows move it in front of, or behind, the others. The bin deletes it.
• Below the list, Add more gives you the same buttons again.

Adding text

1. Open Text and type in the box that says Type your text.
2. Choose Straight text or Curved text, a font, bold or italic, and the alignment.
3. The sliders set the Size, the Curve (a dome, a cup, or flat), the Spacing between letters and the Line spacing.
4. Press Add your text. There is no colour to pick: a stamp prints in one colour, the ink it ships with.

To change text later, click it on your stamp. Its settings open again and every change shows straight away.

Graphics

Graphics is our library of ready-drawn pictures. Search it, or pick a category, and click one to add it. It prints in the ink colour.

Click a graphic on your stamp to change it: Swap it for another, set its size and angle, flip it, or Duplicate it.

Shapes

Shapes draws a Rectangle, an Ellipse or a Polygon (choose how many Sides), with rounded Corners if you like.

Shapes are outlines only: set the Thickness of the line and press Add shape. a stamp prints in one colour, the ink it ships with.

Border

Border adds a frame around your design (on a phone, it is in the + menu).

• Choose None, Thin (0.7mm), Medium (1mm) or Thick (1.3mm).
• Corners: Sharp, Rounded, Chamfered or Scalloped. A round stamp takes the line weights only.
• Gap from the cut line moves the border in from the edge.

Stamp: the stamp, ink and quantity

Stamp is this product’s own page (on a phone, tap the price at the top).

• Change the stamp opens Choose your stamp: self-inking and date stamps in different sizes. Your design moves across and is scaled to suit the new stamp.
• Ink colour: the ink pad your stamp ships with. It does not change the price.
• Quantity: how many stamps.

Moving, resizing and layering

• Move: drag the item.
• Resize: drag a corner handle. Turn: drag the round handle.
• Centre: on a computer, the bar under your stamp has Centre ↕, Centre ↔ and Centre on stamp for the selected item.
• In front or behind: use the arrows on Design.
• Undo and redo: the curved arrows at the top (on a computer, Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z work too).
• Fine work: zoom in with the + and − buttons, and use Pan to move around.

The edge warning

The engraving area is the part of the stamp that prints, and it is set by the stamp you choose. Anything past its edge will not print: the warning says X mm past the edge of the engraving area. That part will not print.

Text is never smaller than 1.5 mm tall, so it stays clear when stamped. Very thin lines can fill in with ink, so a medium outline thickness stamps best.

The designer checks for you. When something is too close, the side panel warns you, for example: 1 item may be trimmed — check Your design. On Design the item is marked, with a Fix it button that pulls it back into the safe area. With more than one, Fix all does them all. You can also just make the item a little smaller.

Checking it before you order

Preview shows your stamp full-screen, as it will be printed. Neither changes anything.

Saving and coming back later

Save keeps your design under a name you choose. You need an account for this; if you are not signed in, the designer offers Register or log in, and it only takes a minute.

To open it again later: Menu → Open a saved design.

Approving your proof and ordering

1. Press Finalise design (Finalise on a phone).
2. Review your proof shows exactly what we will print, with the size, quantity and price. Tick Show cut line to see where it will be cut.
3. Read every word. Spelling, layout and pictures are your responsibility once you approve.
4. Tick the box to say you have read and agree, then press Finalize & Add to Cart.

At checkout you tick once more to confirm you have checked the spelling and layout, then pay securely through Payfast.

After you order

• We start making your order once you have approved your proof and paid. How long it takes, and how it reaches you explains production times, Rush production, courier delivery and lockers.
• Collecting from our Wilro Park collection point is free. We email you when your order is ready to collect.
• Want to send us your own finished artwork instead? Choose Email us your artwork later where it is offered, or send us an enquiry.