Free skull SVG files

How a one-colour skull works

A skull is pale bone with dark hollows, so in one colour the bone is the solid part and the eye sockets, nose and the gaps between the teeth are holes. Cut it from white vinyl for a dark shirt or window, or from black and let a pale surface show through for a reversed look. Either way it lifts as one piece.

The teeth are the fine part. On the skulls with a jaw they are parted by slits about 1.6 mm wide at 100 mm, so cut those at 80 mm or more in vinyl and at 120 mm or more in wood. The simple skull and the cute skull have wide notches in place of slits and work much smaller.

Sugar skulls

A sugar skull is decorated with flowers, leaves and dots for the Day of the Dead. Here every mark is a hole, which suits layering: cut the skull from white or black and put scraps of bright card or vinyl behind the eyes, the forehead flower and the cheeks. The full sugar skull has about forty small holes to weed, so give it 120 mm or more; the simple sugar skull has fewer and larger ones.

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