Free shadow box template

Horse and evening star shadow box SVG

A horse standing on a rise at night and looking towards one bright star, with smaller stars round it, far hills and trees behind, a paddock fence and a willow in front of the rise, and a rose and wild flowers at the foot. 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.

Horse and evening star 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 “Snow” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 5, “Roses”, the slowest: at 0.9 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 5, “Roses”, fills the most of the view, 26% of it.

Sheet	What is on it	Narrowest part	Seen from the front
1. Evening star	A whole sheet with holes for: North star, Rounded star and 7 × Plain disc	over 2 mm	35%
2. Far hills	Rolling ground, with: Three trees and Round tree silhouette	2 mm	7%
3. Horse on the rise	Rolling ground, with: Standing horse silhouette	over 2 mm	18%
4. Paddock fence and willow	Rolling ground, with: 2 × Horse fence with crossed rails and Weeping willow tree	1.7 mm	13%
5. Roses	A gentle slope, with: Rose silhouette, Grass with flowers and Bunch of grass	0.9 mm	26%

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 horse. It is a paper scene to cut and frame, not a case for a halter or a shoe, though a name and dates can be written on 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 horse is a bold shape with nothing under 2 mm at 8 inches. The fence and the hanging leaves of the willow are 1.7 mm or more, and the small flowers at the front are the fine cutting, at about 0.9 mm. 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 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 change the horse?

Yes. Select it in the maker and choose Swap: a horse at a gallop and a mare with her foal are under Animals. Each is a plain silhouette, so the colour of the card is yours to choose: black, bay brown, grey or white.

Is there one for a dog or a cat?

Yes. See the Dog under the stars scene and the Cat and crescent moon scene.

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