New Year fireworks shadow box SVG
Fireworks bursting over a city at midnight on New Year’s Eve, seen from a balcony: three bursts in a sky of stars, towers and rooftops below them, and a bottle of champagne, a glass and balloons 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 2, “Fireworks”, the slowest: at 0.8 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 5, “Balcony”, fills the most of the view, 33% of it.
| Sheet | What is on it | Narrowest part | Seen from the front |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Stars | A whole sheet with holes for: 9 × Plain disc | over 2 mm | 35% |
| 2. Fireworks | Flat ground, with: 2 × Firework burst in one piece, Willow firework with falling trails and 2 × Low skyline border | 0.8 mm | 10% |
| 3. City | Flat ground, with: City skyline with windows and Office building for a skyline | 1.5 mm | 9% |
| 4. Rooftops | Flat ground, with: Village row of five houses and Row of three storefronts | 1 mm | 13% |
| 5. Balcony | Flat ground, with: Champagne bottle and flute silhouette and Three balloons | 1.4 mm | 33% |
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 | 0.6 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed |
| 20 × 20 cm | 200 × 200 mm | 0.8 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed |
| 8 × 8 in | 203.2 × 203.2 mm | 0.8 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed |
| 23 × 23 cm | 230 × 230 mm | 0.9 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed |
| 25 × 25 cm | 250 × 250 mm | 1 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Fine 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
In the Snow colours the fireworks are white card against a dark blue sky. Each of the three hangs on a thread from the top of the second sheet. Their rays are the finest cutting in the box, at about 0.8 mm at 8 inches, so cut that sheet first, slowly, and peel the waste card away from the rays rather than lifting them. The bottle, the glass and the balloons are sturdy.
- 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 the year?
Not inside the maker yet. Cut the numbers from the lettering in the library and glue them to the bottom border, and change them next year.
Does it need a light?
No. In dark blue and white card it reads well in daylight. With a string of warm white lights behind the back sheet, the stars, which are holes in it, shine.
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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