Category: (Book)
14 new, starting at $8.89
7 used, starting at $19.99
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.
The Handmade Soap BookReviewed by Perla Gosselin, 2009-07-04
I am very please that the book arrived promply, I would purchase from the seller again, and thank you very much. Keep up the good work.
Good Source of Information but Caution on RecipesReviewed by Jean Litton, 2003-01-05
I like the way the book is organized and written, and the photos are inspiring. The writer does a good job of organizing the topics. I found the lists of additives, essential oils, and fillers especially interesting and informative, and I return to this section often. However, after plugging in a few of her recipes in a lye calculator, I was disappointed in the lye heavy recipes. I felt this was very lazy editing and a potential danger to new soap makers who do not know how to design their own recipes. I checked some of her sap values and they are correct, but, out of a sampling of 5 recipes, 2 recipes are lye heavy: "Grapefruit Slice" is -1.6% lye heavy; "Fresh as a Cucumber" is also -8% lye heavy. However, "Blackberry Smoothy", "Peach Melba", and "Strawberry Soap" are all okay. If you already know how to design your own recipes, this is a good book for inspiration.
Good for inspiration, but...Reviewed by Anonymous, 2002-09-18
I am a beginner soap maker, and found the recipes and pictures good for inspiration. Also, the sequence of pictures for a basic recipe from heating stage to the trace stage are useful. However, the book is not useful for creating your own recipes. While the book has a saponification table and a description of how to calculate amount of lye to use, it does not tell you how much liquid to use in a new recipe.
maybe for beginner, but not so great for experienced soapmakReviewed by K. Wesley, 2002-01-09
I returned this book. As an experienced soapmaker, I found that this book just repeated a lot of the same information from other books I have read. There are better books out here and this one is pretty mediocre. I would recommend "Essentially Soap" over this book.
Worth Every Penny!Reviewed by Stephanie Rose Bird, 2001-11-24
As a professional soapmaker I own just about every soapmaking book published. "The Handmade Soap Book" by Melinda Coss is my favorite and I highly recommend it. The photographs by Emma Peios are sensual and entice you to want to make each and every soap in the book. The recipes are for small batches which works well while you are just learning and when you've found your favorites you can double or triple the recipes. The recipes are well written and pretty much fail-proof. Coss is not a soap snob or purist, rather she uses color freely to produce delightful results. Coss features both vegetable soap and animal-based materials for those who would like to experiment and choose for themselves rather than have the decision made for them which is done in many soapmaking books. Yes, the book is a bit pricey but it is hardcover so it is durable, the photographs are inspirational and the recipes make "The Handmade Soap Book" worth every penny.
