How postage stamps are made
Many self-adhesive stamps still get wavy edges, a die-cut imitation of perforations they no longer need.
- stations
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- things upstream
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- raw sources
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- steps from the ground
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The short version
Postage stamps are printed in large sheets or rolls on paper made for the job, often by gravure, which pulls ink from tiny cells etched into a copper-plated cylinder. Lick-and-stick stamps use paper that arrives pre-gummed. Self-adhesive stamps sit on a slick backing and are die-cut apart, and the rest are separated by rows of punched holes.
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Engrave the printing cylinder
A steel cylinder plated with copper is engraved by laser, diamond tool or chemical etching. The design becomes a field of tiny cells, deeper or wider where the color must be stronger. The finished cylinder is proofed, then chrome plated so it survives long runs.
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Gum or back the paper
Stamp paper for lick-and-stick stamps arrives already gummed, usually with dextrin made by heating starch, or with polyvinyl alcohol. Self-adhesive stock instead carries a pressure-sensitive adhesive on a waxed or polymer-coated backing it cannot grip firmly.
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Print the sheets
The engraved cylinder dips into an ink tray as it turns. A doctor blade scrapes the surface clean, leaving ink only in the cells, and the paper picks it up as it presses past. Lithography and offset presses print other issues.
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Punch the perforations
Rows of small pins punch holes between the stamps. The gauge counts holes in a 2-centimeter span, and modern stamps run from about 11 to 14. Holes too far apart make stamps tear, and holes too close make the sheet fall apart in a pocket.
gauge 11 to 14
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Die-cut the self-adhesives
A die cuts all the way through each self-adhesive stamp but not through its backing, which is only lightly rouletted so blocks tear off neatly. The cutting edge is usually wavy, copying the look of torn perforations, though the edges come out smooth.
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Pack sheets, coils and booklets
Finished stamps are trimmed into sheets for post office counters, wound into coils, or folded into small booklets. Coil stamps are perforated on only two opposite sides.
Worth repeating
- The first stamps were sold without perforations, and clerks had to cut them apart with scissors.
- Stamp gum tends to make sheets curl, sometimes until a stamp rolls itself into a small tube.
- In 1995 only 20 percent of US stamps were self-adhesive, yet by 2013 almost every new US stamp was.
Back to the ground
Follow every input upstream and postage stamp starts as these 18 raw sources.
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Sources
Cite this page: "How postage stamps are made." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/postage-stamp