Customer Reviews

300 Handcrafted Soaps: Great Melt & Pour Projects

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Whether you're a beginner or an expert soapcrafter, 300 HANDCRAFTED SOAPS by Marie Browning is definitely a must-have for your library. If you craft melt & pour and are low on ideas, you'll be inspired after just the quickest look through this book. The photographs are stunning, and I'm sure this will be mentioned in all reviews. Almost all of the 300 recipes have accompanying pictures and this is necessary for such an eye-catching craft. Ironically, the one photo that could have been improved is the cover shot---the background is a bit too dark to effectively highlight the soaps.

This book is up-to-date as the author mentions more than her standard coconut oil, clear or opaque glycerin melt & pour bases. Olive oil, avocado and cucumber, goat's milk, colored, and the newer frosting bases are described and pictured. Marie Browning offers helpful suggestions for selecting QUALITY soap bases and her advice is very important for those beginners who tend to buy whatever's on sale or available. Without a decent soapbase you might as well just go on using commercial soap found in your local grocery or drug store, which is notorious for being loaded with synthetic ingredients. As the author of a book about melt & pour soap and a soapcrafter for several years, I've learned that you must read the ingredients. If doing business with an Internet based soap supplier, ask for the soap base ingredients if not already listed on the site. If the supplier refuses this request, don't do business with them as they probably have a low-grade soap base.

Ms. Browning has sections on aromatherapy, fragrances, and what makes safe additives such as herbs, spices and oils, along with a few cautions. She can be ultra conservative in her warnings: "Avoid all essential oils, natural herbal products, and salt baths during pregnancy." But she's also straightforward about using alcohol to spray on soap to avoid bubbles and adhere layers preferring to "wait until a skin forms; I then carefully remove the skin with a knife." This is the most effective method I've learned over the years.

For those looking to explore the boundaries of hand-milled [sometimes called rebatch] soapcrafting, you'll be advised to purchase a copy of her earlier book, BEAUTIFUL HANDMADE SOAPS. Ms. Browning's latest offering is for melt & pour soapcrafters only! Her recipes can be adapted to hand-milled soap however. She has a handy chart comparing hand-milled and melt & pour [also known as M&P]. I laughed when I read of her advice to use M&P soap within three months as it loses its fragrance and "colorants migrate." I think her usage of fragrances, her method is to measure by drops and she doesn't indicate whether it's a fragrance oil or essential oil as she believes it's the soapcrafter's decision, is minuscule. Admittedly, some colors can be problematic, fading or bleeding in the soap and making a mess. In moderately or uncolored soaps I've personally made, there have been some bars last for over 1 year and still smell as fragrant as they were when removed from the molds. Not mentioned in this book is the fact that even M&P should cure [harden] for a few days rather than be used instantly.

It's refreshing to see the evolution of her soaps as her 1998 recipes for soap pebbles have evolved into truly spectacular and authentic looking gems. The lemon, lime, and orange slices are also better looking than what was shown in her earliest soapcrafting book.

Marie Browning has concocted so many new recipes that I'd recommend a person look at the photographs first, then go back and match the photo numbers with the recipes. A few new categories include: bagged soaps, fizzy soaps, carved soaps, dip-dot painted soaps, shampoo and scrub bars, and soap sweets-well, the author's imagination is all-encompassing. When she cautions you to label your soap, please take her advice. Some of the pictures look like they belong in a dessert cookbook!

With the holiday season fast approaching, you'd better hurry up and order this book so you have time to make some of these wonderful recipes to give as gifts. But the best part about soapcrafting is that it's an inexpensive hobby that can be done year-round because there's always a forthcoming holiday, and people always use soap!

I am a sucker for gorgeously photographed books. This may have something to do with my five star rating here, but give me a chance to make my case!

That being said, there are a few things you should know before buying this book: 1., It is almost strictly a melt and pour soap book, with a brief explanation on how to rebatch but no recipes for such and 2., It is about the fun, creative side of soapmaking, with emphasis on the visual and olfactory effects you can create rather than making "skin care" products per se. Of course these soaps are all perfectly functional, gentle and satisfying as soap, but you may find they make even better gifts and conversation pieces.

I have made a few so far that caught my eye; indeed, with 300 to choose from, I could not possibly do justice to them all, and I apologize that I can only comment on a small fraction from personal experience. They are all lovely.

First I did the Rubber Ducky embedded on a clear, blue oval base as a finishing flourish on top of a baby shower gift (scented, of course, with fragrance of Baby Powder). Next, I couldn't resist the Honey soaps, which have bee themes of course and include honey and other skin-beneficial additives like bee pollen or oatmeal. A few of these are colored and molded to look like bees made out of honey. There is a Rainbow Loaf, which uses cubes of jewel-colored scraps arranged mosaically in a standard rectangular mold -- a perfect way to finish up on those leftovers. Finally, I tried the Gem soaps, which do a remarkable job of imitating several precious and semi-precious gem stones (my favorite is Amber, with a small plastic ant embedded in it. Clever!). I should remark here that many of the special effects achieved are possible only by using glycerine and other transparent melt-and-pour soap bases, a fact which "soap snobs" should consider.

Mainly because they are beautiful and clever, these soaps have qualities which recommmend them for gift giving. There is not a person on your holiday list which could not use a bar of soap (I hope), and somewhere in here is a soap for every man, woman and child, with fragrances and additives that could be custom-tailored. As I've stated before, this is not about skin care products per se, but the author does include recipes that help there (about a third of the total, or 100) and a reference list of soap bases that have specific beneficial properties and can sub in many of the more decorative recipes.

Most melt and pour books on the shelves have a hastily-done, almost cheesy look and seem to belong with those 10-page booklets you find on the racks at craft stores. Not so for this one. If melt-and-pour soapmaking's strength is it's creativeness and beauty, then the craft deserves a quality publication like 300 Handcrafted Soaps to represent it.

My one, tiny little criticism, for which I may have deducted half a star if Amazon would let me, would be the lack of a source list or references to obtain some of the fabulous molds Browning used, or the fascinating fragrances she recommmends for her recipes which don't seem to be easily obtainable in local retail stores. But, there's always the Internet.

This is a positively fantastic book and a must-have for anyone who is interested in M & P soapmaking, whether it be on a professional or recreational level. The recipes are easy to follow (although I don't necessarily stick to the "per drop" recommendation for either coloring or scent) and the photographs are just beautiful. Guaranteed to get your creative juices flowing! Well worth every penny, you won't be disappointed!

Beautiful pictures and well written, but the format may be confusing for a beginner. It was for me. At first I thought, "300 recipes all in one skinny book?" Then I understood why. Many, if not most of the "recipes," just have a list of materials and additives, but no procedure per se. For procedure the reader is instructed to see elsewhere in the book.

For instance, Recipe #175 for Triangles, which immediately caught my eye, lists the amount of melt and pour base, drops of fragrance, additives (in this case, "green, yellow, and red soap curls cut from soap sheets"), and the size of mold needed. Then it directs the reader to "See 'Soap in Soap' in the Designer Techniques section" for the how-to. Ok, let's go see... Ahh, step three tells me to follow the instructions for "Embedded Toy Soaps," yet another section to which I must refer in order to make the Triangles. Suddenly I feel like I'm on a scavenger hunt just to make a couple of bars of soap. By this time, my excitement has fizzled and I'm ready to look elsewhere... as in another book altogether. As a beginner, I'm really looking for specifics. This book was not for me. I did enjoy reading the general info on soapmaking, that was helpful. And the pictures were gorgeous to look at, but I'm glad I only borrowed this book from the library and didn't actually pay money for it.

Just received a copy of 300 Handcrafted Soaps and I am absolutely thrilled with it. It is, as usual for Marie Browning books, pure magic. The projects are well described, the photos are lovely, and the variety is unbelievable. This is the definitive melt and pour soapmaking book. I have a shelf full of books on the subject, and I suspect this is the one I will keep coming back to as my reference guide. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in this form of soapmaking!

I'm newly to soap making, trying to work up nerve to actually make some cold process soap. I've done several batches of melt and pour soaps -- adding color and scents -- and have been reading up on soap making. .

This book has some stunning pictures, some really interesting ideas for soaps that are attractive, trendy, pretty, fun, different, all in a 'project' format.

It has information in the front on the basics of 'making' melt and pour soaps, packaging them, etc. A good 'idea' book,it may not be practical for someone who wants to make batches of soap -- each recipe is for a bar or two.

On the other hand, for someone who is looking for ideas and small projects, this has a lot of ideas.

If you are seriously interested in learning about soapmaking - even melt and pour soapmaking -- this almost has too much glitter and glam.

A great gift book.

I love this book because it has numerous-300- visually applealing soaps. This lets the soap crafter get away for the "Plain White Soap" and make each bar a peice of art with color and texture. A great book for beginners and those who want to take it to the next level. The book mentions that you can get most of your supplies at thrift stores to by pass an huge inverstment. I purchased all my soap making supplies from the thrift store and I am selling prfessionally.

I absolutely love this book! I look at it over and over again! Pictures are fabulous! When my kids' friends are over and they say, "We're bored!" I get out the soap supplies and this book so we can pick out a particular one to do. I have found a lot of the soap molds in the book online, although I wish they did have a suppliers list of where each mold was ordered. That would be great.

The fact that the recipes are for one or two soaps at a time is great for my situation. We'll pick different recipes, different molds and make several at a time.

Terrific! So many ideas and so little time! I made about a dozen varieties of soap, and each was delightful.

Great book for beginners or pros alike. I will definetly buy more books by this author