Totoro Whistle

This..... is a whistle. A Totoro whistle. It makes a cool sound : D And the air comes out of his butt.

I did this in art class. You make a pinch pot and then the spout+holes, then add features/accessories.
Let me tell you. This caused me no end of frustration. I spent THREE CLASSES trying to get that damn pinch pot to whistle. I gave up, and the teacher got it for me within 10 minutes DDD:<
The original plan was to make it a puffin, but the shape Mrs. Morris got it to whistle in... was completely different than what I intended. So I stared at it for a minute and.... hey! It looks like Totoro! So I printed out a reference picture and began sculpting.
I actually at one point squeezed the pinchpot to make the head and body shape, and.... it stopped whistling |D; (smart, I know). So I was all "TO HELL WITH THIS!" and continued sculpting.
The God of Clay had pity on me, and by some odd stroke of luck, next class it was whistling again xDD

Then it got fired, and I painted it.
Didn't have a reference that showed his pawpads, so I later learned that they're actually a purple-blue-gray. Didn't know his claw color either.
I purposely didn't add claws to the toes, because they would have most definitely broken off.

He looks like he was scalped because I didn't score on the top of his head, so it broke off while firing |D; But it's glued back now, so all is well.
Overall, I love this piece xD;
You can't really tell he's a whistle at all until you see his tail+butt. He could almost be a figurine c8