In this tutorial, we will design an SVG cut file for a five-sided spherical ornament, which contains only two cut lines. This type of ornament is frequently made in to a Christmas ornament. But, it can be used for many other projects.

Do the Math and Draw the Shapes

Our first step is to decide the size of the vertical side of the sphere. I decided to make this a 2.25 x 1.5 inch rectangle.

This rectangle will have another rectangle above and below, which are identical. For those math lovers, these two identical shapes are isosceles trapezoids. A trapezoid is made up of two bases (horizontal lines) and two legs (vertical lines). The length of the bottom base line of the trapezoid will be the same as the longer side of the rectangle, which is 2.25 in. The top base line of the trapezoid will be 1.25 in. The legs will be 1.375 in. each.

Together the rectangle and two trapezoids will make one side segment of the sphere.

The sphere will contain five side segments and one top and bottom hexagon.

The five sides of this hexagon will be the same length as the shorter base line, which is 1.25 in.

1. In Illustrator^R, draw the rectangle and the top trapezoid. Make a copy of the trapezoid, flip it vertically and place under the rectangle.
   
   
2. Let's make the hexagon. Click on the workspace with the Polygon tool and set the Radius to 1.05 and the Sides to 5.
   
   

Build the Template

As we have made one segment of the sphere, let's add some tabs for gluing the ornament together. We need one tab on the top and bottom edges and one on each of the three right edges.

Our hexagon is already a simple closed path but let's add a .25 hole at the center of the hexagon. The crafter can use these holes to add a hanger to the top of the ornament and a tassel to the bottom.

1. Draw the tabs on the top, bottom and sides of the segment.
   
   
2. Use the Ellipse tool to draw a .25 in circle and place it in the center of the hexagon.
   
   
3. Let's draw the final cut line for the segment. On a new layer, draw a clean cut line path around the outer edges of this segment.
   
   

The SVG Cut File

Now that we have finished our template for the SVG cut line, let's start a new document for our SVG cut file and name it as you like. I use the naming convention of a "dC" at the front of the file name. I follow this with an underscore and then add the SKU number. Then I add a second underscore and the name of the file. So I named this new document "dC_0000_SphereOrnament".

1. Copy the side segment cut line and paste it in to a layer in the new document.
   
   
2. Copy the hexagon and circle together and paste in to a second layer of the document.