Handmade Soap: Recipes for Crafting Soap at Home

by Mike Hulbert, Christine Churchhill (Illustrator), Keith Scott Morton (Photographer)

Practical as soap is, it can also be a real luxury; this book shows how to create an astounding array of soaps.

There are really just two ways to make soap -- the cold process and glycerin -- but there are literally thousands of ways to make that soap delightful. Beautifully colored and shaped soap is a joy to use; grainy soap is studded with sand or poppyseeds in an amazingly effective hand cleaner; and pure translucent glycerin soap is as gentle as it is clear.

Shaping, coloring and mixing in additives are all covered in details. Soap, cut or molded into bars, squares, balls, domed bars, and round, is a joy to behold. Precious handmade soap can be personalized as gifts for the bride, for a newborn, or for a birthday by embossing a monogram onto the bar. Colors from subtle to pulsating add another dimension. Ingredients such as violet petals or coffee grounds create soaps that soothe and scrub. Sentimental soap made with May's lavender blooms is so romantic in November; pine scented soaps warm the month of December.

Handmade soap is a gift that says comfort, relaxation, and a treat for the senses -- for oneself or for a friend.

Genres: Crafts

111 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been researching soapmaking for a few weeks now, and I have read several books on the subject, and this is my favorite so far. The cover, IMO, is not good...so don't judge it by its cover. It has good basic & luxurious specialty recipes for vegetable-based soap for face, body, hair, baby, kitchen, laundry, liquid soap, etc (it does include one basic recipe that includes beef tallow for comprehensiveness). I LOVE the pictures and its simplicity. If you want to understand the scientific saponification process you should not get this book.

I have tried several of the recipes: Basic Recipe Two with Grapefruit Essential Oil, Peppermint & Tea Tree Wake-Up Bar, and Lavender & Oatmeal Exfoliating Bar. They have all turned out perfectly.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and well designed book. Simple, easy to read recipes. Gorgeous photos. Good selection of basic recipes using relatively easy to find ingredients. Lots of cold process and hand milled recipes. Includes specialty soaps such as laundry and dish soap. This ranks among the best soapmaking guides due to clairty and presentation.

[Elizabeth Flowers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good read through before I attempt soap making with lye. This is more of a recipe book than a how-to book. I borrowed this from the library and someone made some note that there is a type on the lye level for the double-mint castille recipe--a good reminder that all recipes should be run through a lye-calculator online to ensure that you will not have caustic soap!!

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

easy to read, step-by-step process of soap making; many recipes for different types of soaps

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a lot of soap books out there. This is one of my favorites, but I am stingy with my 5 star ratings :)

[Pedro]

The recipes are solid.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some conflicting information from other books I've read. Will try recipes to decide which is best.