Product Description

In a world filled with pollution and chemicals, this book shows you how to create your own soaps and bathtime luxuries using only natural ingredients and very little specialist equipment. Create the perfect gift for family and friends, kids and grown-ups. This book features a huge range of exotic and tempting ingredients, such as peach, peppermint, ylang ylang, cinnamon and chocolate, and includes recipes for shampoo bars, body splashes and bath creams. The simple, sumptuous and easy-to-follow recipes and luscious photography will tempt and inspire all.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7471 in Books
• Published on: 2000-12-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 80 pages

Review
If it had never occurred to you to make soap, think again! This guide has alluring recipes involving herbs and oils, nuts and waxes of appeal to the child or the white witch within: milk chocolate, pink lavender and lime, salad days. The book is crammed with soap recipes suitable for all skin types and uses, plus complete instructions, tips and solutions to any problem that may occur. Soaps as gifts, as shampoo, to soothe and moisturize, to delight. After this book of fragrant and intoxicating brews and potions, you will never think of buying soap again. (Kirkus UK)

Synopsis
In a world filled with pollution and chemicals, this book shows you how to create your own soaps and bathtime luxuries using only natural ingredients and very little specialist equipment. Create the perfect gift for family and friends, kids and grown-ups. This book features a huge range of exotic and tempting ingredients, such as peach, peppermint, ylang ylang, cinnamon and chocolate, and includes recipes for shampoo bars, body splashes and bath creams. The simple, sumptuous and easy-to-follow recipes and luscious photography will tempt and inspire all.

About the Author
Melinda Coss runs The Handmade Soap Company in West Wales. Her soaps are sold at the exclusive L'Atelier du Savon in the Marais district of Paris and she also supplies some of the most prestigious hotels and stores in London. A regular contributor to magazines, she has also appeared on television and is the author of a wide range of craft books including the forthcoming Gourmet Soap Made Easy, also published by New Holland.

Customer Reviews

addictive
A really good book that has got me on my journey of making soaps. Warning once you start you will not be able to stop. It is really easy to use and gives good intructions. If you don't like some of the recipes after making a few batches of soap you will be able to tweak them for yourself.

Addicted already!!
This is a very good book with very clear instructions, the illustrations are helpful to give you an idea of what your own batch should look like. Melinda Coss prefers to hand stir her soap, I, however would recommend a stick blender as most soaps will trace in a matter of minutes this way. If you have time on your hands I am sure stirring is very theraputic, for myself making a batch of soap is something I do once the kids have gone to bed so a stick blender is just the trick.

A good book but BEWARE!
Overall this is an excellent book BUT be very careful! Base oil quantities are measured in ounces or grams and these are fine. Essential oils and other additives, however, are specified in table spoons and in grams... The gram measurements are WRONG! It appears that whomever translated the spoonfulls into grams had been on the sherry! I have just made a batch of soap which called for four tablespoonfuls of Callendula petals or 45grams! 45grams of Calendula petals are about four cups! The same is true of the essential oils. The recipe calls for one teaspoon or 5 grams... 5 grams is about three teaspoonfuls!

Buy the book by all means, its a good book; but when measuring out ingredients use grams or ounces for the base oils but then teaspoons or tablespoons for the additives.

Also... Page 13, under the "ten commandments", step 5 reads "As you add the water to the sodium hydroxide" DO NOT DO THIS it would be bad, very bad! Always add the sodium Hydroxide to the water.

So I have three wrecked batches of soap because I followed the gram measures. I'm wiser now... and so are you.

Derek