How is a curved dome made from flat card?

Each face of the dome is a piece of a cylinder that runs parallel to its side of the box, and a cylinder unrolls flat without stretching. So every face is printed at its true shape: bend it gently along its length and it takes the curve exactly, and its edges meet the next face all the way to the top.

How high can the dome go?

Up to three quarters of the lid’s half-width (the distance from its middle to a side). Higher, the faces stand upright at the rim and there is nothing for the skirt flaps to hold, so a taller dome is eased back and the page says so. At the default hexagon, 28 mm sides, that is about 19 mm; the default is 16 mm, so the box stands about 61 mm tall.

Why does each dome face come as a separate piece?

Laid side by side, two neighbouring faces part from their shared corner by only a few degrees, so there is no room between them for a glue tab that would hold. Cut apart, each face carries a lap down one edge that the next face glues over, the same way the paper sphere is built.

Dome Lid Hexagon Box Template — Free Polygon Dome Box, Any Size

The dome-lid polygon box template, flat and folded

Dome-lid polygon box template — free printable dieline with cut and fold lines, any size — The printable dieline at its standard size. Type your own size above for yours.

Dome-lid polygon box folded up from the template — the finished box — The finished dome-lid polygon box, made from it.

What this template is for

A hexagonal (or 4 to 12 sided) box whose lid rises to a smooth dome, one curved face over each side. Gift and favour boxes, Eid, Diwali and Christmas sweets, and keepsakes.

Also called hexagon dome box · dome top hexagon box · octagon dome box · polygon dome gift box — all the same shape, and this is it.

Eid, Diwali and Christmas sweet boxes
Wedding and party favour boxes
Gift boxes for soaps, candles and jewellery
Keepsake and display boxes

How to use this template

All four downloads are the same dome-lid polygon box at the same size — only the format changes.

PDF printing at home: Print at 100 per cent, or hand it to a print shop as "actual size, no scaling".
PNG 300 dpi Canva, Photoshop, Procreate: Upload, lock it in place and design your dome-lid polygon box on top. Free plan and phone included. Full Canva walkthrough →
SVG Cricut, Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity: Vector, with cuts, folds and labels on separate layers. Cricut and Silhouette walkthrough →
DXF Silhouette, laser and vinyl cutters: Two layers, CUT and FOLD — and the one free Silhouette Studio Basic will open.

Getting it printed properly →

Printing it

Type your size above, then download the PDF.
Print at 100% — never “fit to page”, or every measurement comes out wrong.
Too big for the paper? Pick your paper size and leave Fit the pieces to the page ticked: each piece gets its own place on a sheet and the PDF comes out with every page in it, nothing cut in half and nothing to tape.

How to put it together

These pictures are the dome-lid polygon box itself, not a generic diagram — change the measurements above and the template changes, but the three steps never do.

Cut the solid lines
Every solid line is a cut. Do the inside shapes first, while the sheet is still whole and easy to hold.
Score every dashed line
Dashed lines are folds. Score each one first — an empty ballpoint against a ruler — or the card cracks along the outside of the bend.
Fold, glue and hold
Build the base like the polygonal box: glue the wall into a ring, fold its flaps in and glue the BASE on them. Glue the LID SKIRT into a ring the same way with its flaps at the top. Bend each DOME face into a gentle curve, glue every tab under the next face round, then set the dome on the skirt flaps and glue it down.

Glue: a glue stick for paper, white PVA on card — hold each seam thirty seconds, and let it dry before you use it.

Questions about the dome-lid polygon box

How is a curved dome made from flat card?: Each face of the dome is a piece of a cylinder that runs parallel to its side of the box, and a cylinder unrolls flat without stretching. So every face is printed at its true shape: bend it gently along its length and it takes the curve exactly, and its edges meet the next face all the way to the top.
How high can the dome go?: Up to three quarters of the lid’s half-width (the distance from its middle to a side). Higher, the faces stand upright at the rim and there is nothing for the skirt flaps to hold, so a taller dome is eased back and the page says so. At the default hexagon, 28 mm sides, that is about 19 mm; the default is 16 mm, so the box stands about 61 mm tall.
Why does each dome face come as a separate piece?: Laid side by side, two neighbouring faces part from their shared corner by only a few degrees, so there is no room between them for a glue tab that would hold. Cut apart, each face carries a lap down one edge that the next face glues over, the same way the paper sphere is built.

Print your own design on it

Add a logo, photo or pattern in the panel on the left and drag it onto the dome-lid polygon box. It is trimmed to the cut outline, embedded properly in the PDF, and never leaves your computer — most free template sites hand you the outline and stop there. How printing your own design works.

Templates like this one

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