How to Choose a Seal Stone for a Personal Name Seal
A personal name seal is made of two pieces, the carving and the stone. Most people pick the carving first and let the stone be whatever is left. That is backwards. The stone is the part you will hold every time you use the seal, and it is the part that ages. This guide is about picking the stone properly.
The three materials you will meet
Shoushan is the standard. It is dense, smooth, and takes ink the way a name seal should, clean and without a ring. It is the material to pick for a seal you will use every week. Qingtian is lighter and slightly more translucent, and it reads as a softer, warmer piece in the hand. It is the pick for a seal that is more of a desk object than a working tool. Balin is the densest of the three, and it is the one that holds up to years of daily ink. If the seal is for a business, for a studio that signs every day, balin is the material the price is for.
Size is for your hand, not your desk
A name seal is held between the thumb and the forefinger, and the size has to fit that grip. A seal that is too large for your hand will be dropped, and a dropped seal is a cracked seal. The standard working size sits comfortably in an adult hand and reaches a stamp width that reads clearly on paper. If you have smaller hands, or the seal is for a child, go one size down. The listed seal size and the stamp width are the two numbers to check before you order.
What the price is actually for
The price of a seal stone is not for the carving. The carving is the same across every stone. The price is for the stone, the material, the colour, the density and the fact that it is not going to chip or craze over ten years of use. A cheap stone will look fine on the first use and will show the difference by the second year. For a seal you intend to keep, the stone is where the money is meant to go.
Before you order
Confirm the stone material, the size, and whether the stone and the carving are sold together or separately. A seal that is sold as the pair is the one that will arrive as a finished piece. See the Stone & Seal category for the current materials and sizes, and the Personal Name Seal as the starting point for a first seal.