News

Handmade Treasures

By Harmony Kennedy
The Times-Standard

ARCATA—Imagine giving a loved one a small book made especially for them—the book’s storyline plucked from real-life experiences with that person—illustrated by vibrant watercolor images and deft, handwritten text. Well, that is exactly what Arcata artist Zoey Abbott does.

Abbott, a sales representative for Paper Alliance, a San Francisco-based greeting card and gift company, combines a rich artistic background, including painting, drawing, photography, graphic design and printmaking, with her current passion for bookbinding, calligraphy and sumi-e (oriental brushpainting) to inspire her custom, handmade books.

“I’ve been painting and drawing since I was a kid,” Abbott said. “My mom says that’s what I was naturally inclined to. I took printmaking classes and photo classes all through high school and college.”

A sampling of Abbott’s books are currently on display at Caravan of Dreams, 893 H St., Arcata. Abbott dubs each book “an edition of one”—a trademark of her creation that is printed on the first page of the book and marked with a stamp in red ink from one of her handmade chops.

Abbott uses chops made out of rubber eraser for accents. Chops are similar to stamps, she said, but traditionally made out of wood or stone with Japanese or Chinese symbols or characters.

The books on display at Caravan of Dreams are not for sale. Rather, they are reproductions of original books that have previously been given as gifts. Abbott is using the display to let people know about her custom order service.

“I use a black pen and then I use Japanese brushes and Japanese paints. The colors are really interesting—Japanese color is amazing. Their cultural value of color is amazing—I’d like to learn a lot more.”

So far, she has made books for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and Mother’s Day, as well as a few non-occasion cards and books for family and friends. She is considering doing custom-made cards in the future.

“I started making cards as a way of communicating when I didn’t have language,” Abbott said, of her experience living in Fukuoka, Japan, for four years.

She went to Japan to visit a friend who is a 13th generation potter and decided to stay to learn the language and practice different techniques of painting.

“When I was in Japan, I couldn't speak the language for the first six months and then for the first year it was hard for me to communicate,” she said. “So, my friend’s family took me in and fed me and had me over and taught me Japanese, taught me about history. I could listen, but I couldn't really say anything.”

Instead of using language, her art became a way to thank those who were teaching her about Japanese culture. While in Japan, Abbott studied calligraphy and sumi-e, the latter of which has greatly influenced the style of art in her handmade books. She uses Japanese watercolors and experiments with different types of paper when creating her books. She even hand stitches the binding with colorful embroidery thread and ties it off with a bead.

“Really the books are an alternative to a generic gift whenever gifting or card giving is appropriate. It goes beyond just being personalized and incorporates the sensibility, sense of humor and creativity of the giver,” Abbott said.

“I’ve been asked to do a marriage proposal book,” she added. “Right now the client and I are just in brainstorming stages. I’ve also been asked to do a Mother’s Day one for a brand new mother, which will celebrate the birth and the relationship of the couple.”

Abbott suggested that other appropriate occasions could be graduation, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, a new baby, a new home or get well wishes.

One of the wedding books that Abbott did was for the mutual best friend of a couple who were about to marry. The friend had all sorts of stories about the couple’s courtship. Abbott worked with the client and drew sketches inspired by the stories he shared with her. They collaborated on the final paintings and the result was a unique, personalized wedding gift.

“They said it was the best wedding gift they had received,” Abbott said.

“I enjoy it so much. It's one of the most rewarding things one can do, to be part of two people’s relationship and helping other people communicate,” she said. “You can speak verbally and communicate. You can write, you can play music for someone. There are all sorts of ways to communicate and this is just another way of doing it.”

One of the books on display at Caravan of Dreams is a birthday book that Abbott made for a client named Sharmila Singh, for her friend Rod Speer.
“Sharmila came to me with a desire to make a book for Rod that would celebrate what their friendship has meant and continues to mean to her,” Abbott said.

Abbott elaborated on the story that the book tells—how the two friends grew up together in rural Kansas and both moved to California as adults. Sharmila moved to San Francisco and Rod to San Diego.

“As young people, Sharmila told me that she and Rod had spent a lot of time together on the rooftop of Sharmila’s family home,” Abbott said. “They’d stargaze and dream aloud about exciting futures in big cities. As young adults they spent time chasing tornados in Rod’s car.

“In the final pages of the book, Sharmila wanted to say that although they are miles apart, she wishes she could spend Rod’s birthday together. We used the stargazing theme to come full circle in the book. A picture of Sharmila reaching for a bright star and text that reads, ‘Although we are miles apart, I look at the sky and think of you. You always shine brightly. Happy birthday!’”

Abbott enjoys the whole process of making custom books for people, from searching for decorative papers to line the inside of the book’s cover to experimenting with different techniques for binding the books and trying various materials such as cloth and paper for the book’s cover.

“I’m a major paper collector,” Abbott said, as she pulled out a large roll of oversized pieces of colorfully patterned paper in a variety of textures.
Her passion for paper and bookmaking is evident in the way she shares her art with others, which is the reason she enjoys working one-on-one with people to make a gift that their loved one will never forget.

For more information about Abbott’s books, e-mail zabbott@gmail.com.