The Soapmaker: Natural Handmade Soap from Your Kitchen

This book is awesome! It does not teach you how to make soap from scratch, rather the recipes are from hand milled, melt and pour, and liquid soap bases. I love it. The pictures, setup and design are great. The author goes into detail about the right equipment, supplies, instructions, and essential oils and their properties. Then she gives recipes for whipped cream soaps, glycerin soaps, soap balls, other bath products and a fantasy collection. This is one of the better soap books. I just had to buy another copy because mine was in such horrible shape. I have made everything in this book to give as gifts and people GO BANANAS! They nearly break down my door for more. This book along with Making Scented Soap, Natural Soap Making, 300 Great Melt and Pour Projects,and Handmade Natural Soap- I have created quite a business. I highly recommend this book. The soapballs alone are worth it. People love them!

Great book with a good variety of soap recipes. Good instruction on how to create her yummy soaps. Such a good book for those of us who can't use harsh chemicals. The cream soaps are a unique twist on handmilled soaps. This is great book for any soap or craft library.

Having goats I was interested in finding a book that would teach simple soap making techniques including using milk. I also wanted a book that would show natural soaps or soaps that would be healthy for my family and my skin. If you are interested in or make healthy foods you will have the items needed readily at hand. And the book is helpful because it lists where to get some of the ingredients for some of the soaps if your area doesn't carry them. Although essential oils can be found via the Internet as well. There should be one or two soaps (at least) that a person can and will want to make. Milk-Based Soaps: Making Natural, Skin-Nourishing Soap by Casey Makela is a book I also recommend for those who like myself make homemade soap using milk from my own goats. Milk soap is harder to make but is my favorite soap next to olive oil soap.

This book has great pictures and the steps of soapmelting (of premade soap) are easily explained. I agree with the other reviewers that the purchase of the ingredients (the essential oils) can be costly. But this book offers unique recepies not just for soaps but also for shower gels and lip balm. If one is into aromatherapy and wants to get started with soapmelting, this is the right book. The ingredients can be found in health stores, spice shops, and internet suppliers.

This book teaches you the soap from soap method of soapmaking. Instead of actually making the soap, you take pre-made soap, shred it and make new soap out of it. This simplifies the process and allows you to create your own designer soaps without a lot of hassle. If you want to avoid the mess and complexity of making soap from scratch with lye, tallow and such this book allows you to make the basic soaps more decorative by adding colors, scents and additives.The book starts out with step-by-step instructions, accompanied by photos, of the basic soapmaking processes. It then discusses the many ingredients of the soaps including scents, oils, colors and other additives. A basic list of essential oils and absolutes along with a description of their aroma, blending options and any warnings is also included. The rest of the book is dedicated to making soap and bath products. Unfortunately, only about half are accompanied by pictures, so it can be hard to tell what it will and should look like when you're finished. There are sections on whipped cream and glycerin soap as well as soap balls, liquid soaps and other bath items such as shampoo and body powder. Some of my favorite recipes include mint and lavender slice, red sky crescent moon soap, liquid lime soap, milk bath and fantasy body dust. There is a great list of suppliers in the back including websites. An index was helpful in finding things as well. Overall, I found this book to be helpful in creating decorative soap and bath items for friends, family and myself.