Dog under the stars shadow box SVG
A dog sitting on the top of a hill at night and looking up at one bright star in a sky full of stars, with far hills and trees behind, an old oak beside the hill and daisies in the grass at the front. 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.
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 “Snow” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 5, “Daisies”, the slowest: at 0.9 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 5, “Daisies”, fills the most of the view, 27% of it.
| Sheet | What is on it | Narrowest part | Seen from the front |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Stars | A whole sheet with holes for: North star, 2 × Rounded star and 9 × Plain disc | over 2 mm | 34% |
| 2. Far hills | Rolling ground, with: Three trees and Round tree silhouette | over 2 mm | 11% |
| 3. Dog on the hill | Rolling ground, with: Sitting dog silhouette | over 2 mm | 11% |
| 4. Oak | Rolling ground, with: Oak tree with a broad crown | over 2 mm | 17% |
| 5. Daisies | A gentle slope, with: Two daisies in silhouette, Grass with flowers and Bunch of grass | 0.9 mm | 27% |
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 | 0.7 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed |
| 20 × 20 cm | 200 × 200 mm | 0.9 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed |
| 8 × 8 in | 203.2 × 203.2 mm | 0.9 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed |
| 23 × 23 cm | 230 × 230 mm | 1 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Cuts easily |
| 25 × 25 cm | 250 × 250 mm | 1.1 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
Made in memory of a dog. It is a paper scene to cut and frame, not a case for a collar, though a tag can be glued to the bottom border. In the Snow colours the back sheet is dark blue and the hills are white and pale blue, so it reads as night. The stars are holes in the back sheet: a light, or a sheet of white or gold paper, behind them shows through. The dog is a bold shape that cuts easily, and the small flowers in the grass at the front are the fine cutting, at about 0.9 mm at 8 inches. Nothing hangs on a thread.
- 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
Can I make the dog look like mine?
You can choose the breed. Select the dog in the maker and choose Swap: a labrador, a golden retriever, a beagle, a poodle, a rottweiler, a schnauzer, a chihuahua and others are under Animals, most of them sitting. Each is a plain silhouette, so it has the outline of the breed, not the markings of one dog.
Can I add a name and dates?
Not inside the maker yet. Write them on the bottom border, or cut the name from the lettering in the library and glue it there.
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.
Cat and crescent moon 
Bench under the willow 
Unicorn and moon 
Elk in the moonlit forest 
Baby animals and rainbow 
Beach wedding