Free shadow box template

Dragon and castle shadow box SVG

A dragon in the air with its wings spread against a huge moon, far peaks behind it, a fortress on the hill below and a hatchling among the pines at the front. 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.

Dragon and castle 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 “Halloween night” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 6, “Grass and ferns”, the slowest: at 1 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 6, “Grass and ferns”, fills the most of the view, 25% 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	25%
2. Far peaks	A mountain range	over 2 mm	7%
3. Dragon	Rolling ground, with: Classic dragon with wings	1.3 mm	10%
4. Fortress	Rolling ground, with: Castle with a gatehouse and Tall pine tree	1.5 mm	13%
5. Hatchling and pines	Rolling ground, with: Baby dragon, Evergreen tree with even boughs and Classic pine tree	1.2 mm	11%
6. Grass and ferns	A gentle slope, with: Bunch of grass, Grass silhouette and Fern silhouette	1 mm	25%

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	20 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
20 × 20 cm	200 × 200 mm	1 mm	20 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
8 × 8 in	203.2 × 203.2 mm	1 mm	20 mm	Yes	Cuts easily
23 × 23 cm	230 × 230 mm	1.1 mm	20 mm	Yes	Cuts easily
25 × 25 cm	250 × 250 mm	1.2 mm	20 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

The big dragon is the fine work, about 1.3 mm at its thinnest at 8 inches, so cut the third sheet first to test your blade. In the Halloween night colours the moon is orange and the front sheets nearly black; in white card with a light behind, the fortress windows glow.

Cut all 6 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 6.
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

How does the flying dragon stay up?

It hangs from the top of its sheet on a thread of card 1.6 mm wide, which is lost against the sky once the sheets are stacked.

Can I swap the fortress for another castle?

Yes. Select it in the maker and choose Swap: there are five castles under Buildings, from a single tower to a castle with pointed roofs.

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.

More shadow box scenes

All scenes and the scene maker