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Pirate cove shadow box SVG

A pirate ship at anchor in a moonlit cove, a second ship out at sea, palms on the headland and an anchor, a crab and a shell on the beach 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.

Pirate cove 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 “Blue dusk” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 6, “Beach”, the slowest: at 0.8 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 6, “Beach”, fills the most of the view, 27% 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	29%
2. Far sea and second ship	Waves, with: Pirate ship silhouette	1 mm	5%
3. Headland	Rolling ground, with: Double palm tree	1.5 mm	8%
4. Pirate ship	Waves, with: Pirate ship under full sail	over 2 mm	16%
5. Near waves and palm	Waves, with: Palm tree with coconuts	over 2 mm	8%
6. Beach	A gentle slope, with: Classic anchor, Crab silhouette, Conch seashell and Bunch of grass	0.8 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	0.6 mm	20 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
20 × 20 cm	200 × 200 mm	0.8 mm	20 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
8 × 8 in	203.2 × 203.2 mm	0.8 mm	20 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
23 × 23 cm	230 × 230 mm	0.9 mm	20 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
25 × 25 cm	250 × 250 mm	1 mm	20 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 big ship is sturdier than it looks: nothing on its sheet is under 2 mm at 8 inches. The small ship on the second sheet and the beach at the front have the fine parts, so cut those two sheets slowly. The sea is three sheets of waves, each a little lower than the one behind.

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

Is the ship from a film?

No. Both ships are invented: square riggers with three masts, drawn for cutting, with nothing taken from any film or game.

Can I add a treasure chest?

There is no chest among the parts yet. A small gift box from the Holidays parts, placed on the sand, makes a fair stand-in.

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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