Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9214 in Books
• Published on: 1995-09-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Synopsis
In response to the wide concern currently expressed over animal-product additives and synthetic ingredients in toiletries and cosmetics, this book focuses on making one's own nutrient-rich soaps, scented with natural oils and using only herbal and vegetable dyes. Step-by-step instructions are provided, down to some creative gift-wrapping of the end product. The author has included many recipes, from old favourites like oatmeal and honey or avocado, to her own for goat's milk, borage and a tropical shampoo bar. There are also tips for trouble-shooting, quickly assessing and correcting problems. All stages of the manufacturing process are covered, from the buying of supplies to cutting and trimming the final bars. The author is president of an American retail mail order company producing herbal products.

Customer Reviews

Top-notch information for new and experienced soapmakers!
I've been making soap for fun and profit for 3 years and have found this book to be the most informative and comprehensive of any I've read--and I've read a lot! Great recipes, easy-to-follow instructions, and wonderful ideas. This is truly my soapmaker' bible--I use it constantly! This is the perfect start-up book for beginners, as well as a great resource for more experienced soapers.

A Very Useful And Informative Book
This is the third book I bought on soapmaking, by the time I bought it I had already made several batches of soap fom the other two books but was not satisfied with the results.
This book goes into more depth and is very interesting aswell! It contains everything you need to know in my opinion and has some very good supplier references. (All American but many ship internationally and have very good prices). It describes lots of ingredients and really helps you to make informed choices on what you are going to use in your own soaps.
I would recomend this book to anyone. I think the great thing about it is that you pick up so many small but very useful bits of infomation along the way to complement the basics, this filled all the gaps in my knowlege and gave me much more confidence.
By far my favourite book on soap making.

A very thorough and useful book
This is _the_ book to acquire if you are planning to make vegetable oil based soap. There's a lot of information packed in this book. It presents all the elements of soapmaking very systematically, and explains the simple chemistry and logic behind the recipes and techniques. It specializes on the best ways to make vegetable oil soap -- which can differ from animal fat based soap. I'm a beginner. I made my first batch last night and it is happily solidifying in the molds as I write. I would buy this book in addition to whatever other soapmaking books you feel inspired to buy, because it covers just about everything and is a really good reference. It includes a large appendix of suppliers and a reassuring table of what to do when things go wrong. My only complaint is that it doesn't have a good description of what "tracing" looks like -- tracing being the sign that your soap is ready to pour into the molds. But, none of the other books I read did either. It's subtle, and I think it's the sort of thing you learn to recognize after you've made a couple of batches. Note that each of the eight basic recipes makes 40 bars of soap, so be prepared to share with friends!! If the amount of info in this book seems a bit overwhelming, beginners might also want to consider picking up a copy of Ann Bramson's book.