Free shadow box template

Autumn fox shadow box SVG

A fox trotting through a wood in autumn, with a low sun behind far hills, birches and oaks thinning out, a vixen and her kit beside a cluster of toadstools, and a bare tree at the edge. 6 sheets of card, cut and stacked with a gap between each, make the picture. The files are free, and every part of the scene can be moved, swapped or resized below before you download.

Autumn fox shadow box: 6 layered sheets seen from the front
Download the SVG files

6 sheets at 8 × 8 in, zipped, with a note on putting them together.

Free for personal and commercial use, no sign-up. What you can do with it.

The 6 sheets

Sheet 1 is the back and sheet 6 is the front. Each one is a single piece with the same frame round its edge, so they line up when stacked. The colours shown are the “Autumn” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 5, “Vixen and kit”, the slowest: at 0.7 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 6, “Ferns and toadstools”, fills the most of the view, 25% of it.

SheetWhat is on itNarrowest partSeen from the front
1. Low sunA whole sheet with holes for: Plain discover 2 mm20%
2. Far hillsRolling ground, with: 2 × Round tree silhouette and Oak tree with a broad crownover 2 mm6%
3. BirchesRolling ground, with: Birch tree in leaf and Birch tree silhouette1.6 mm13%
4. FoxRolling ground, with: Trotting fox and Oak tree with a broad crown1.4 mm15%
5. Vixen and kitRolling ground, with: Bare tree with even branches, Mother fox and kit and Three mushrooms0.7 mm14%
6. Ferns and toadstoolsA gentle slope, with: 2 × Fern silhouette, Toadstool with a wide cap and Bunch of grass0.8 mm25%

Measured from the files at 8 × 8 in. The narrowest part is the thinnest neck of card that holds anything on; sharp tips are not counted. “Seen from the front” is the share of the picture that sheet fills once the sheets in front of it are in place.

Will it cut at your size?

The download is 8 × 8 in. The scene maker above makes the same scene at any of these sizes; the thinnest part scales with it.

Frame openingEach sheetNarrowest partDepth neededFits a 12 × 12 in matRule of thumb
6 × 6 in152.4 × 152.4 mm0.5 mm20 mmYesToo fine: choose a larger size
20 × 20 cm200 × 200 mm0.7 mm20 mmYesFine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
8 × 8 in203.2 × 203.2 mm0.7 mm20 mmYesFine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
23 × 23 cm230 × 230 mm0.8 mm20 mmYesFine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
25 × 25 cm250 × 250 mm0.9 mm20 mmYesFine detail: sharp blade, slow speed

Depth needed allows 3 mm of foam between sheets and 5 mm for the card itself and the backing.

Making this one

Cut it in creams, oranges and one dark brown and the fox needs no detail to read as a fox. The bare tree on the fifth sheet has the thinnest twigs: lift that sheet off the mat slowly, from the trunk outwards.

  1. Cut all 6 sheets from 160 to 220 gsm card at the same size.
  2. Lay them out in order, sheet 1 at the back.
  3. Put strips of 3 mm foam tape round the border of sheet 1 and press sheet 2 onto it with the edges level. Carry on to sheet 6.
  4. Fit the stack into a deep frame with the front sheet against the glass. For a light box, run a strip of warm white LEDs round the inside of the frame behind the stack.

The zip includes these steps as a text file, each sheet as its own SVG and all 6 side by side in one SVG. More on paper, frames and lights is on the shadow box page.

The parts, on their own

Everything in the scene comes from the free SVG library, where each has its own page and file:

Questions

Can I turn the fox round?

Yes. Click it in the maker and tick Face the other way. Here it trots to the left across the sun while the vixen in front watches it pass.

Can I sell boxes I make with it?

Yes. Finished pieces are yours to sell. The files themselves may not be sold or shared; send people to this page. See the licence.

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