How to Make a MoodMonster for Your Desk

Ever had trouble communicating your emotions? Workmates invade your cubicle when you really want to be left alone, or seem to avoid you when you have good news to spread?

Let me introduce you to MoodMonster. This little palm-sized guy can sit on your desk or computer monitor, showing your mood to all who pass.

All you need are the template (there are several versions attached) something to cut with, and something to stick with.

If you use a craft knife for your cutting, you'll need a cutting mat or sacrificial surface to cut on.

For the sticking, a glue-stick is fine, but I use PVA craft glue - it takes longer to make each joint, but the glue adds strength to the paper. I'll be writing these instructions as if you are using PVA or other liquid glue.

Start with the limbs - cut out the body / legs / arms (they're all in one piece), fold the legs up at the soles of the feet and the arms down at the shoulder.  Have a look at the photos to get a clearer idea of what I mean.

Glue the (rather hefty) thighs, and press them firmly in place. Set the piece to one side for the glue to dry, and turn to the face.

The face is in two parts - eyes and mouth - which are identical in shape, so treat both the same.

Cut them out, and crease all the dotted lines. If you are using card, I recommend scoring first.

Note that the corners fold inwards - glue the inside of this fold, and pinch to make it stick. When you have stuck all four corners of the first half of the face, set it to one side and do the same with the second half.

When you have stuck the corners of the second half, go back to the first half and glue the flaps that hold down the final face of the cuboid shape. To make sure it dries in shape, stand the cuboid upside down. Repeat with the second half, then go back to the body.

If you want, you can make the pieces of the face inside out, and draw your own features instead of those already in place.

Once the limbs are dry, crease all the other fold-lines of the body. Glue the flaps, fold into shape and press the flaps firmly to make the joints. Leave it to dry before doing anything else.

Once the joints are dry, you can curve the horns with your fingers, and drag the tail over the back of a knife-blade to make it curl.

Once everything is dry, all you have to do is choose the features you want people to see, slot them into place, and stand your MoodMonster proudly on guard over your domain...

I like plain-white papercrafts, but MoodMonster lends himself to colours - you could print it on coloured paper, or add colours to the templates to print (I've included a JPEG and an SVG file of the template for you to pay with).

As ever, if you make a MoodMonster, or a version of him, please post a picture, and if you do something interesting with the templates, post a copy of those as well.

Instructables member tate31nym is a 911 operator (bows low to the worthy one), and used MoodMonsters as seasonal decorations - that is very cool, and they even sent me a photo of them in action, and one of them's a girl!

_{(I love the little Santa hat - maybe, dear readers, you could post pictures of them in other seasonal attire?)}