Pigeon's Egg Handmade Books

Pigeon’s Egg books are made entirely by hand; this means that the making of each book takes time, care and individual attention to detail.  The photos below describe the materials and techniques used for Pigeon’s Egg’s product range. Click on the Etsy shop (E) button, top right, to find out what’s currently for sale.

Range of coloured paper
A book starts with large sheets of paper, card and book cloth.
Range of coloured book cloth
These materials then need to be folded, stacked and trimmed to size.
Stitching a book
Sections are sewn together by hand, using needle, thread and beeswax
Book spine being lined
For larger, more complicated books, multiple sections are sewn into a text block; then the spine is lined with material and paper. End bands are added, which protect the ends of the spine as the book is pulled from the shelf, and a neat length of ribbon is added to mark your place.
Book case binding in progress
Pigeon's Egg book covers are all made by hand, using layers of heavier paper, card or bookbinders greyboard. Multi section case bindings may be fully bound in book cloth, or quarter bound with a traditional book cloth spine and decorative covers, or half bound with extra bookcloth covering the corners. 
Pocket jotter
Smaller, simpler books are made using soft covers - often called pocket jotters or tiny notebooks; ideal for tucking into a bag, or a pocket, for notes on the go. 
concertina
Pigeons Egg concertina sketchbooks are made with watercolour paper or cartridge paper, to suit different projects. They all have hard covers, very useful for working in the field, and are a small size to take out with you. They can be used as single panels, opened out page by page, or extended fully  for telling a narrative.
Dos a dos book layout
Dos a dos (or back-to-back) books have two separate sections, which can be flipped and used from either side. Encased in a contrasting, colourful, double-sided cover to protect your notes and help you to find what you're looking for.