Submarine shadow box SVG
A submarine with three round portholes and its periscope up, seen through a porthole of your own: a sea turtle and seaweed behind it, an angelfish and a jellyfish drifting past, and an octopus, an anchor and a starfish on the sea bed. 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 “Blue dusk” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 4, “Fish and jellyfish”, the slowest: at 0.8 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 5, “Sand and weed”, fills the most of the view, 43% of it.
| Sheet | What is on it | Narrowest part | Seen from the front |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Light from above | A whole sheet with holes for: 8 × Plain disc | over 2 mm | 31% |
| 2. Far reef and turtle | Rolling ground, with: Swimming sea turtle silhouette and 2 × Sea grass | 1.1 mm | 6% |
| 3. Submarine | Rolling ground, with: Cute submarine with portholes and Sea grass | 1.5 mm | 14% |
| 4. Fish and jellyfish | Rolling ground, with: Angelfish with stripes, Jellyfish with frilled arms and Octopus silhouette | 0.8 mm | 6% |
| 5. Sand and weed | A gentle slope, with: 2 × Sea grass, Bold anchor and Starfish silhouette | 1.3 mm | 43% |
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
The round window makes the frame a porthole. The submarine hangs from the top of its sheet on one thread that meets the periscope, and the turtle, the fish and the jellyfish hang near the edge of the circle, where their threads are short. Cut the submarine in yellow among the blues. The tentacles of the jellyfish and the fins of the angelfish are the thinnest card, at about 0.8 mm at 8 inches.
- 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 use a square window?
Yes. Choose the rounded or the square window in the maker. Everything keeps its place, and the corners that the circle hid fill with water and sand.
Can the submarine sit on the sea bed with no thread?
Yes. Drag it down in the maker until its hull overlaps the ground of its sheet and switch its thread off. The check tells you if it is joined.
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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