Mudman Standing on Barbara Willis

Ask me about Mudmen and my thoughts immediately jump to some sort of creature from the blackest of lagoons. "Mudmen!" I shout, "Mudmen scare me! Keep the Mudmen away from me!"
I don't know anything about mudmen, except what I just read on this webpage about mudmen. In short, mudmen are small ceramic figures incorporated into tabletop bonsai displays...little dioramas depicting Chinese village life.
On eBay right now is this Mudman fellow standing in the shrubbery. I don't know anything about him. I don't know anything about his greenery. But I do know that he is standing in a sweet mid-1940s Barbara Willis low bowl...square, chartreuse with tooled unglazed sides, about 5 and half inches square.
I wonder how hard it would be to de-Mudman this thing? I wonder how much I would regret doing that later?

Barbara Willis Necklace

I'm a big fan of anything made by the hands of Barbara Willis. And I love her story. She made some pottery for a while in the 40s and 50s and then got out of the business, and went about the rest of her life. Fast-forward to the 1990s, Barbara discovers that her old handiwork is on everybody's short-list of cool. Who'd of thought!
At that time Barbara started tinkering around with the pottery again at her Malibu home. The new items she makes are sold mostly local and through The Accessory Hut, at least they have her stuff when they can keep it in stock. But I haven't noticed too many of Barbara's new items popping up on eBay. They just haven't passed into the secondary market yet.
Currently listed though is this knockout Barbara Willis necklace from 2002. Its wonderful and 20 bucks is a steal.

Barbara Willis Pillow Vase

Real sweet Barbara Willis pillow vase starting at a buck on eBay. One would expect it to go much higher, even though the seller has missed the production date by about 25 years.
Figure this turquoise beauty dates to the mid-40s. Very distinctive BW style of glaze above tooled clay. I think the turquoise glaze she used is the most mid-century modern of all her colors.



Addendum: The vase stayed at a buck for most the week. It was almost getting exciting, but pretty gems like this don't go unseen on eBay too often. Closed at $450.