BoxTemplate

Paper Sphere Template

A paper ball built from gores — the orange-peel segments a globe is made of. No folding at all: the paper takes the curve on its own.

Sphere — change shape

Size mm
Only here Your own design

Put a logo, photo or pattern straight onto the box — most free template sites give you the outline and stop there. Drag it where you want it; it is trimmed to the cut lines so nothing prints off the card, and it stays in your browser.

Advanced settingsunits, flaps, board, paper, lines
Units
Shape settings
Page

Bigger than the paper? Each piece prints whole on its own sheet. A single piece is never split: pick bigger paper or a smaller size. More about printing

Template

cutfold

Drop a picture anywhere on the drawingTap “Add a picture” below to print your own design on this box.

Print at 100% (“actual size”), never “fit to page”, or the box comes out the wrong size.

The sphere template, flat and folded

Sphere 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.
Sphere folded up from the template — the finished piece
The finished sphere, made from it.

What this template is for

A paper ball built from gores — the orange-peel segments a globe is made of. No folding at all: the paper takes the curve on its own.

Also called paper ball · globe template · gore template · paper globe — all the same shape, and this is it.

How to use this template

All four downloads are the same sphere 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 sphere 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

  1. Type your size above, then download the PDF.
  2. Print at 100% — never “fit to page”, or every measurement comes out wrong.
  3. 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 sphere itself, not a generic diagram — change the measurements above and the template changes, but the three steps never do.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. GORE 1GORE 2GORE 3GORE 4GORE 5GORE 6GORE 7GORE 8

    Fold, glue and hold

    Cut every gore. Glue them edge to edge, each one lapping over the marked line on its neighbour, working right round until the last meets the first. Leave the final seam till the ball has taken its shape.

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 sphere

What is a gore?
One orange-peel segment of a sphere. Its width at any point is the circumference of the ball at that height divided by the number of segments, so a set of them wraps the true surface — no folding and no faceting.
How many gores should I use?
Eight is the usual compromise. Fewer and the paper has to stretch round the middle; more and you spend the whole afternoon lining up seams. Twelve or more is worth it only on a big ball.
What is the dashed line down each gore?
The true edge of the segment. The strip of paper beyond it is the overlap — glue the next gore so its edge lands on that line, and the finished ball comes out at the diameter you asked for.

Print your own design on it

Add a logo, photo or pattern in the panel on the left and drag it onto the sphere. 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.

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