Free shadow box template

Valentine swans shadow box SVG

Two swans face to face on a lake in front of a great heart of light, with a willow on the far bank, two doves overhead, a pair of birds on a bench and roses along the near shore. 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.

Valentine swans 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 “Sunset” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 2, “Willow and doves”, the slowest: at 0.7 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 5, “Near shore”, fills the most of the view, 25% of it.

Sheet	What is on it	Narrowest part	Seen from the front
1. Heart	A whole sheet with holes for: Classic heart and 6 × Plain disc	over 2 mm	24%
2. Willow and doves	Rolling ground, with: Weeping willow tree, Flying dove, Dove silhouette and Round tree silhouette	0.7 mm	13%
3. Swans	Waves, with: 2 × Swan with raised wings	1.5 mm	16%
4. Bench and roses	Rolling ground, with: Park bench with three birds, Rose silhouette and Rose bud on a stem	0.9 mm	11%
5. Near shore	A gentle slope, with: Three wildflowers on stems, Bunch of grass and Tulip border	0.7 mm	25%

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 heart is a hole in the back sheet, so put the light, or a sheet of red paper, behind it. The swans float on a sheet of waves of their own: cut it in white or your palest card and they stand out from both banks.

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 put a photograph in the heart?

Yes. Tape a print behind the back sheet so that the faces fall inside the heart, about 8 cm across at the 8 inch size, and leave the light out.

Does it work as an anniversary or wedding gift?

Yes. Nothing in it says Valentine. Cut the names and a date from the lettering in the library and glue them to the front border.

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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