Free turtle SVG files

Two kinds of turtle, and what each is good for

There are two families here. The sea turtles are drawn from above: a teardrop shell, two long front flippers and two small rear ones. They are the ones for beach bags, tumblers, car windows and anything coastal. The land turtles and the tortoise are drawn from the side, with a domed shell on stout legs, and suit garden signs, children's rooms and cards.

Every file is 100 mm on its longer side. The shells are cut into plates with bars about 2 mm wide between them, and every bar runs into the solid rim, so nothing falls out and the shell cannot come apart. Those bars are the thinnest parts: in vinyl and card they cut cleanly down to about 60 mm, and in 3 mm plywood or acrylic 100 mm or larger is safer. The two silhouettes have no inside cuts at all and work at any size.

Colour behind the shell

A plated shell is made for layering. Cut the turtle in a dark colour and glue a piece of green, teal or patterned paper behind the shell, and every plate shows the second colour through a neat frame. On glass or acrylic, leave the plates open and let the light through. Weed the plates from the middle of the shell outwards, so the bars are held by the waste around them until last.

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