Free shadow box template

Trees at sunset shadow box SVG

A wood of bare trees and trees in their last leaves with the sun going down behind it: a big low sun, a far row of four small trees, two taller ones, a pair at the sides, and two large trees that frame the view at the front, with a fern and grass at their feet. 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.

Trees at sunset 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 “Autumn” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 2, “Far trees”, the slowest: at 0.8 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 6, “Fern and grass”, fills the most of the view, 24% 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	21%
2. Far trees	Rolling ground, with: 2 × Bare tree with even branches and 2 × Winter tree	0.8 mm	6%
3. Middle trees	Rolling ground, with: Tree with leaves on every branch and Winter tree	1.5 mm	10%
4. Side trees	Rolling ground, with: Bare tree with even branches and Family tree	over 2 mm	15%
5. Near trees	Rolling ground, with: Winter tree and Tree with leaves on every branch	over 2 mm	15%
6. Fern and grass	A gentle slope, with: Bunch of grass, Grass silhouette and Fern silhouette	0.8 mm	24%

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

Ten trees on four sheets, small at the back and large at the front, so the wood has real depth and the sun shows between the trunks. Four kinds are used: a bare tree, a winter tree with finer twigs, a tree with a leaf at the tip of each branch and a broad tree with leafy tips. The two large trees at the front and the pair behind them have nothing under 2 mm at 8 inches. The far row is the fine cutting, at about 0.8 mm, and so is the fern on the front sheet. The middle pair is about 1.5 mm. Cut it in the Autumn colours as shown, or in white and greys for a winter wood. Nothing hangs on a thread.

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 it one tree in layers?

No. It is a wood of ten trees on four sheets. For a single tree cut on two sheets, so that its crown has a back and a front, see the Old oak on the hill scene.

Can I add an animal?

Yes. Select a sheet in the maker and add one: deer, foxes and rabbits are under Animals, and owls are under Birds and insects. Stand it on the ground of its sheet so that the sheet stays in one piece.

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