Oklahoma Today Winter 1983-1984 Volume 34 ... - Digital Collections

By Kate Jones
Photographs by Steve Sisney
- hen visitors walk into Be@ Reeders home, the first
thing they're likely to do is forget their manners.
Instead of observing be amenities, thb're jiab/e to dame leir mamas by turning their
backs on their hostess and staring into be cases dat line de wide entryway.
Beq doesn't mind, though, because what they're oohing and aahing over are
samples of her artistry: a Bru Gourmand, a 1914JDK Hilda, a Simon QHalbig fi
117, an FSBJ 252.
Dolls.
More dan dolls. If your experience has mn to Betsy Wetses, Barbies a d GI Joes,
you may feel dat Betty's creations deserve another designation entirely.
Bat dolls bey are, reproductions of French and German dolls giee~ to lucky ZMe
rich girls in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Dolls with human-hair wigs and blownghs
eyes, dressed in velvet and lace, their porcelain heeks delicately flushed with
china paint.
Since 19 76, Betty Reeder has been working at recreating these little works of art, not
for little girls but for collectors. ''I've heard that it takes seven years to become a
dollmaker, "she says. ''I'm into my seventh year now, and sometimes it seems I've
9 9
come a long way. Other times, I see how far I have to go.
Herfist doN was a 12-inch ''Dream Baby, " made for her daughter. Betg is quick
to see its flaws today-its glass eyes are not appropriate for a Dream Baby, for
instance. Still, it won her a trophy and a blue ribbon in the Oklahoma Cily
Metropolitan Ceramic Show.
Of KeRs, Kestners &@Brus,
Jumeaus and a
Wire-eyed Steiner orTwo
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Oklahoma TODAY