It's a common occurrence for a Notary seal impression to be either smudged or too faint to read due to uneven application of ink.
The solution is simple: The Notary affixes a second seal impression that is readable and photocopiable near but not over the first one. If need be, the second seal might even be positioned "on end" to fit in a tight space. The Notary must never try to "fix" the first seal impression with pen and ink — this may be regarded as tampering and cause the document's rejection.
To prevent imperfect seal impressions, some Notaries first try a sample impression on scratch paper before attempting the actual print on the notarized document. This allows the Notary to gauge how hard to press in affixing the seals. If this is done, of course, the trial impression should be torn up and discarded afterward.
More detail on how to use your Notary seal stamp properly is available.
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