Free shadow box template

Peacock in the garden shadow box SVG

A peacock walking through a garden with his train behind him: a pale sun, a magnolia and a cherry tree in blossom, a rose beside a trellis, the peacock with the eyes of his feathers cut out, and a peony and tulips 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.

Peacock in the garden 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 “Blossom” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 3, “Trellis and rose”, the slowest: at 0.7 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 5, “Flowers”, fills the most of the view, 27% of it.

Sheet	What is on it	Narrowest part	Seen from the front
1. Sun	A whole sheet with holes for: Plain disc	over 2 mm	32%
2. Far trees	Rolling ground, with: Magnolia tree in bloom and Cherry blossom tree	1.1 mm	11%
3. Trellis and rose	Rolling ground, with: Trellis fence panel with a climbing rose and Rose with stem and leaves	0.7 mm	10%
4. Peacock	Rolling ground, with: Peacock with a trailing tail	1.9 mm	16%
5. Flowers	A gentle slope, with: Peony in bloom on a stem, Three spring tulips and Bunch of grass	1 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	0.5 mm	17 mm	Yes	Too fine: choose a larger size
20 × 20 cm	200 × 200 mm	0.7 mm	17 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
8 × 8 in	203.2 × 203.2 mm	0.7 mm	17 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
23 × 23 cm	230 × 230 mm	0.8 mm	17 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
25 × 25 cm	250 × 250 mm	0.9 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

The peacock is about 10 cm high at 8 inches. The eyes of his feathers and the bands on his wing are cut through, so the paler sheet behind shows in them, as in a traditional paper cutting. His sheet measures about 1.9 mm at its finest, so it is sturdier than it looks. The trellis and the rose are the fine cutting, at about 0.7 mm; the far trees are about 1.1 mm and the flowers at the front about 1 mm. Nothing hangs on a thread. In the Blossom colours the scene runs from pale pink to plum. For a blue peacock, cut his sheet in teal or royal blue card and leave the rest as they are.

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 cut the peacock by hand?

Yes. The feather eyes are small ovals and teardrops, and each is cut out one at a time. Print the sheet at full size, tape it over the card, cut the eyes first and the outline of the bird last, so the card is held firm while you cut the small shapes.

Is the tail fanned out?

No. The peacock is seen from the side with his train trailing behind him on the ground, which keeps the whole bird in one sturdy piece. A fanned tail seen from the front would be a round design, not a 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