Design Your Own Stamp: How to Get the Stamp You Really Want

A stamp of your own turns every letter, label and parcel into a small one-of-a-kind piece. Whether it's your name on a birthday card, your favourite saying on a gift tag, or your logo on the packaging – if you want to design your own stamp, there are wonderfully many options today. In our family workshop in the Vogtland, in Germany, we've been making stamps for over 30 years, and there's one thing we've seen again and again: the best results happen when a personal idea meets honest craftsmanship. In this article, we'll take you along the way to your own custom stamp – from choosing the right model, through designing your wording, to the finished engraving.

Which type of stamp suits you?

Before you get your stamp personalised, it's worth taking a quick look at the different options. Depending on the occasion, a different stamp will suit you:

• Text stamp with your own wording: the classic among personalised stamps. With our stamp with your own wording, you choose from 24 fonts and design one or two lines of text exactly as you like – ideal for names, short sayings or greetings.
• Logo stamp: got your own logo for your small business, your club or your passion project? A logo stamp puts it on paper again and again – on invoices, bags or thank-you cards.
• Photo stamp: especially popular with teachers: the photo stamp with your face turns your portrait into a charming, highly recognisable stamp design.
• Ex libris: for anyone who loves their books and likes to lend them out: an ex libris stamp marks your library in a classic, elegant way.
• Handmade stamps: do you sell things you've made yourself? Our handmade stamps show at a glance that your product was lovingly made by hand.

Wooden stamp or self-inking stamp?

Many of our stamps are available in two versions: as a wooden stamp or as a self-inking stamp. Which one suits you better mainly depends on how and where you want to stamp.

The wooden stamp is the romantic of the two. We make it from FSC beech wood and engrave the design with a laser – a piece of craftsmanship that sits nicely in the hand, looks lovely on the desk, and lasts a long time. You'll need a separate ink pad for it, but in return you're free to choose and change the colour whenever you fancy.

The self-inking stamp is the practical everyday choice: the ink pad is already built in, so you simply press it down – clean, quick, and ready to use on the go too. Its strengths really come through when you stamp a lot and often, for example in the office or at school.

In short: the wooden stamp scores with charm and sustainability, the self-inking stamp with convenience. You can't go wrong with either.

How to design your wording

A personalised stamp looks its best when the wording has been well thought through. From our years in the workshop, here are a few honest tips:

• Keep the text short. A stamp is not a sheet of writing paper – a few clear words have more impact than a design crammed full of text. That's exactly why the stamp with your own wording is deliberately designed for just one or two lines.
• Choose a font to suit the occasion. A playful script suits greetings cards beautifully, while a clear, understated font works better for address or office stamps. With 24 fonts to choose from, you'll find the right one for every purpose.
• Pay attention to contrast and legibility. Very fine, thin fonts can look delicate once stamped – if you want a bold impression, choose a slightly heavier font instead.
• Proofread everything calmly once more. Name, spelling, line breaks – a quick second look before ordering saves a lot of hassle, because once it's engraved, it's engraved.

Logo as a stamp: what matters with the file

A stamp with your logo is a wonderful thing – as long as the artwork is suitable for engraving. A stamp always prints in a single colour, so your design gets translated into areas and lines. Logos with clear lines and solid shapes work best. Very fine details, subtle gradients or shadows, on the other hand, are hard to stamp cleanly.

But don't worry – you don't have to judge this yourself. Just send us your logo file: we'll check it free of charge before engraving and get in touch if anything needs adjusting. That way, you can be confident your logo stamp will turn out exactly as crisp and sharp as you imagine.

From design to finished stamp

And what happens once you've designed and ordered your stamp? That's where we take over. In our workshop in the Vogtland, your design becomes a genuine one-off: we prepare your design for engraving, engrave it with a laser, and assemble your stamp by hand. Every stamp passes through several pairs of hands and is checked before it leaves the workshop. We've been doing this as a family for over 30 years – and a little bit of that love of craftsmanship goes into every parcel we send out.

So you can enjoy your stamp for years to come

A well cared-for stamp will last you many years. We've put together tips on how to clean and store your stamp properly, and what to avoid with wooden stamps in particular, in a separate article: How to care for your stamp properly. It's worth a quick look – especially if your first stamp is already on its way to you.

As you can see: designing your own stamp isn't rocket science, it's genuinely good fun. Whether it's a stamp with your own wording, a logo stamp or a photo stamp – pick your model, design your artwork, and let us personalise your stamp for you. We make it with care in our workshop in the Vogtland. By the way: within Germany, we offer free shipping from €35, with delivery costing €3.99 below that. If you have any questions about your design, feel free to get in touch – we'll help you honestly and without any fuss, so your stamp turns out exactly the way you want it.