Free cactus SVG files

A forgiving shape to cut

Cacti are among the easiest plants to cut. A saguaro is all thick columns and round ends, with no thin stems or fine tips, so the silhouette and the outline work from 20 mm tall upwards and suit a first project in vinyl, felt or leather.

The detail is in the spines. On the ribbed and dashed designs they are slots and dashes about 2 mm wide at 100 mm tall: fine in vinyl and card, but they close up on a laser below about 60 mm. The spiky cactus carries its spines on the outside instead, as short triangles, which makes it the one to pick for wood and acrylic.

Pots, flowers and colour

The potted designs are one piece, pot included. For two colours, cut the design twice, once in green and once in terracotta, and trim each at the rim of the pot: the slot under the rim shows you where. The flowers are welded on too, so do the same for a pink bloom.

How to open the files

• Cricut Design Space: choose Upload, pick the SVG, and add it to the canvas. Set the width you want; the shape is already welded.
• Silhouette Studio: Designer Edition and above open the SVG. The free Basic Edition does not, so open the DXF instead.
• LightBurn, xTool Creative Space and Glowforge: import the SVG, then set the layer to cut, score or engrave.
• Inkscape, Illustrator and Affinity: open the SVG. It is a plain filled path, so you can recolour it, add a stroke or combine it with your own work.
• Printing or sublimation: use the PNG, which has a transparent background.

Each design page lists the file’s narrowest part at seven sizes, so you can tell whether it will survive at the size you plan to cut.

Questions