Free shadow box template

Cat on the wall shadow box SVG

A cat sitting on a garden wall with its back to us, looking at the full moon over the rooftops, a second cat arching its back along the wall and a third walking through the garden below. 5 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.

Cat on the wall shadow box: 5 layered sheets seen from the front

Download the SVG files

5 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 5 sheets

Sheet 1 is the back and sheet 5 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 “Blue dusk” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 5, “Flowers and a mouse”, the slowest: at 1 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 5, “Flowers and a mouse”, fills the most of the view, 28% of it.

Sheet	What is on it	Narrowest part	Seen from the front
1. Moon and stars	A whole sheet with holes for: 7 × Plain disc	over 2 mm	23%
2. Rooftops	Flat ground, with: Village row of five houses and Church silhouette from the side	1.2 mm	9%
3. Cats on the wall	Flat ground, with: Cat sitting from behind and Halloween cat with an arched back	1.8 mm	15%
4. Garden	Rolling ground, with: Bare tree with even branches and Walking cat silhouette	over 2 mm	13%
5. Flowers and a mouse	A gentle slope, with: Three wildflowers on stems, Mouse silhouette, Bunch of grass and Watering can silhouette	1 mm	28%

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 opening	Each sheet	Narrowest part	Depth needed	Fits a 12 × 12 in mat	Rule of thumb
6 × 6 in	152.4 × 152.4 mm	0.8 mm	17 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
20 × 20 cm	200 × 200 mm	1 mm	17 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
8 × 8 in	203.2 × 203.2 mm	1 mm	17 mm	Yes	Cuts easily
23 × 23 cm	230 × 230 mm	1.1 mm	17 mm	Yes	Cuts easily
25 × 25 cm	250 × 250 mm	1.2 mm	17 mm	Yes	Cuts easily

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

Making this one

It works on contrast: cut the wall and the cats in dark card and the back sheet in the palest. The bare tree looks delicate but its twigs are over 2 mm wide at 8 inches; the houses on the second sheet and the flowers on the front one are the finest parts, at about 1 mm.

Cut all 5 sheets from 160 to 220 gsm card at the same size.
Lay them out in order, sheet 1 at the back.
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 5.
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 5 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

What is the wall made of?

It is the ground of the third sheet, set high and flat. In the maker you can raise or lower it with Ground height, and the cats move with it.

Can I show just one cat?

Yes. Select each of the other cats in the maker and choose Remove. The cat on the wall carries the picture on its own.

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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