In this tutorial, we will create an SVG cut design for the Silhouette cutting machine. This design will be for a base for a 12-sided dodecahedron calendar, which I designed last year. It was so popular that I decided to make another for 2016.

The 2015 version had a square base. This year I wanted to change the design a little. So I decided to make this year's base a 5-sided base with an indented hexagon center that will hold the calendar.

Let''s start with the center part of the base. It will have a hexagon cut out area with a small hexagon box hidden inside the base. The sides of this small box will give support to the calendar. Each side of the calendar has five 1.5 inch edges. So the five edges of the cut out area will be 1.75 in.

To create the top of the base, we will add about 2 inches around the cut out area and use the same measurement, without the cut out, for the bottom. The base will be 1.25 inch high.

1. In Illustrator®, let's start with the shape of one side of the calendar. Duplicate this cut line and increase the size until the edges are 1.75 inch. This will be the bottom of the hidden box.
   
   
2. Next let's add the first 1.25 inch high side to this box.
   
   
3. Duplicate this side four times and align them horizontally.
   
   
4. Add the tabs above the five sides.
   
   
5. Add a tab to the edge of the left most rectangle and tabs around the edges of the hexagon.
   
   
6. Now we can draw the final cut line around the outside edges of our pattern.
   
   The tabs around the hexagon will be used to glue the box together. The horizontal tabs will be glued around the cut out area of the top of the base.
   
   To create the top of the base we will start with the cut line for the open area in the top. We will increase the size until the edges are 3 inch long. These two hexagon cut lines will become the cut lines for the top of the base. We will duplicate the large cut line for the bottom of the base.
   
   
7. Duplicate the cut line for the open area in the top. Paste a second copy of the cut line over the first.
   
   
8. Increase the size of this hexagon until the edges are 3 inch.
   
   
9. Center the smaller hexagon inside the larger.
   
   
10. Duplicate the larger hexagon and paste to the right. This is the cut line for the bottom of the base.
    
    To create the sides of the base, we will need five 3 x 1.25 inch rectangles. Because some of our customers are using the 8.5 x 11 inch Silhouette Portrait, we will need to divide our side into two pieces. One piece will be 9 x 1.25 inch and the other will be 6 x 1.25 inch. We will flip them vertically so that they fit into the 8.5 x 11 cutting area of the Silhouette.
    
    
11. Draw three 3 x 1.25 inch rectangles vertically side by side.
    
    
12. Draw a tab the length of one 3 inch rectangle and .25 inch wide. Repeat until you have three tabs on the left, three tabs on the right and one tab on top of the 9 x 1.25 inch rectangle.
    
    
13. Draw the final cut line around the outside of this pattern.
    
    
14. Repeat the last step but this time you will have a 6 x 1.25 inch rectangle.
    
    

Dodecahedron Calendar SVG Cut Design