The Complete Soapmaker: Tips, Techniques & Recipes for Luxurious Handmade Soaps [Paperback]

Norma Coney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 1997

“Provides detailed instructions and recipes for basic lye soaps made with animal or vegetable fats, and for hand-milled and specialty soaps using almond meal, chamomile, glycerin, and milk....Shampoo and liquid are covered as well.”—Library Journal. “You’ll also learn a little something about the history and origins of soap and soap making, fragrance, herbs and natural dyes.”—Woman’s Day Crafts & Needlework.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Soapmaking, once a practical necessity for the homemaker, has almost passed out of the repertoire of home crafts. Nevertheless, one can still make homemade soap with delightful fragrances and interesting textures. This book provides detailed instructions and recipes for basic lye soaps made with animal or vegetable fats and for hand-milled and specialty soaps using almond meal, chamomile, glycerin, and milk that expand on those basic formulas. Shampoos and liquid soaps are covered as well.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

CORRECTIONS to The Complete Soapmaker, by Norma Coney

Note to the reader: the changes on page 34 are particularly important and should be noted for reasons of safety.

On page 34, step 5 should read:

5. Make sure that the pitcher with water in it is resting on a protected surface. Carefully and slowly pour the lye into the water. Use your wooden spoon to lessen any splashing of the lye solution caused by chunks of lye dropping into the pitcher. Don’t make the mistake of adding the water to the lye.

On page 34, the first sentence of step 6 should read:

6. After you’ve added all the lye to the water, stir the solution gently with a wooden spoon until you’re sure that all the lye has dissolved.

On page 50, the first sentence of step 6 should read:

6. Continue to stir periodically until the soap has reached a pudding-like consistency.

On page 50, the first sentence of step 7 should read:

7. When the soap has reached a pudding-like consistency, remove it from the heat and stir it gently as it cools.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Sterling; Edition Unstated edition (June 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806948698
• ISBN-13: 978-0806948690
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #903,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars EXTREMELY DANGEROUS INFO ON POURING LYE., August 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete Soapmaker: Tips, Techniques & Recipes for Luxurious Handmade Soaps (Paperback)

Water should NEVER be poured into lye. The super-hot, caustic lye will explode!! ALWAYS pour lye into water, very slowly. Also, the recipes call for way too much water. Start with 1/4 the amount shown and increase it if necessary. Soggy soap will shrink, warp and take forever to dry out. I have more than one book from Sterling Publishing/Lark Books and their editors don't pay attention to details. Given the horrendous lye handling error, this book should have been recalled for correction.

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good, March 13, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete Soapmaker: Tips, Techniques & Recipes for Luxurious Handmade Soaps (Paperback)

First, I want to mention that in my edition, she has corrected the instructions regarding adding lye to water. Mine clearly states to add the lye to the water, which is the correct (safe) way.

After running her recipes through an online calculator, I agree that they're a bit heavy on the lye. She has zero superfatting, which for a beginner seems a little risky - if you short your oils at all your soap might turn out too caustic. I also reduce the water in her recipes by about 20% unless I'm using a fragrance oil prone to siezing. So I recommend taking her recipes and running them through a good online lye calculator and deciding for yourself if you want to reduce these - I generally use a 5% lye discount and have had great results.

This book focuses rather heavily on rebatching. Personally I enjoy rebatching but many soapers consider it a nightmare and reserve it only for failed batches. So just be aware that this book is a little shy on base soap recipes, but great if you're looking for rebatching recipes.

I also have an aversion to using tallow or other animal products, and there are only 2 base soaps that are all veggie. I would have liked to see more all-veggie recipes.

Overall I think it's a pretty good book, and I'll be keeping my copy. I just write in my own water and lye amounts. :)

58 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dangerous Instructions ... Bad Recipes, April 4, 2001

By 

Kelley "fotobrat" (Methuen, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Soapmaker: Tips, Techniques & Recipes for Luxurious Handmade Soaps (Paperback)

I would suggest to anyone that they not buy this book. The instructions on adding water to lye are dangerous. The recipes when run through a lye calculator are either very lye heavy ( making a caustic soap that will take your skin off) or have so much exess fat that they'd go rancid very quickly. This was the first soapmaking book I ever read and it almost put me off soapmaking forever. The idea that you must rebatch soap to add herbs and fragrances is silly and not at all true. Very few soapmakers rebatch unless they have to do so to salvage a bad batch. She suggests using fabric dye to color soaps, this is a very unsafe practice. She suggests using potpouri oils as fragrance, another unsafe practice and illegal if you plan on selling your soaps to the public. This book is chock full of bad information and poor advice. The photographs are lovely and inspiring but that does not make up for bad and sometimes dangerous information. For your own health and safety avoid it at all costs.