The disclosure relates to methods of making polymer particles, said methods including the steps of: making an aqueous gel reaction mixture; forming an emulsion having dispersed aqueous phase micelles of gel reaction mixture in a continuous phase; adding an initiator oil comprising at least one polymerization initiator to the continuous phase; and performing a polymerization reaction in the micelles. Further, the initiator oil is present in a volume % relative to a volume of the aqueous gel reaction mixture of between about 1 vol % to about 20 vol %. The disclosure also relates to methods of making nucleic acid polymer particles having the same method steps and wherein the aqueous gel reaction mixture includes a nucleic acid fragment, such as a primer.