Customer Reviews

Handcrafted Soap

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book was originally 178 worded pages. North Light has a fixed format of 128 pages total. I am sorry to say the pertinent things soap makers had asked me to write about was was edited out to make room for pictures and melt and pour including the reason I call olive oil is a neutral oil. I was referencing the effects oils have on softening or it having the ability to reverse the softening power of oils, such as, sunflower. Much of the book is out of context.
I was not given the book for review until 30 days prior to printing, and the charts not all for review, so there was no time for North Light to correct anything. I have, however, posted explanations and corrections that I feel need to be made in the second printing on my soap list, especially the Lye-Water Chart correction.....

If you want to make hot process soap in the easiest and most reliable manner you can find this is the book for it. This book, and author, are truly amazing. Finally a soap book with easy instructions and color photos for visual learners! Photos througout for slow cooker, double boiler and oven cooking
methods, as well as, the finished soaps.

This book does away with much of the repetative rhetoric that is in every other soap book (warnings about essential oils, naming what some of their properties, etc., as this is can be found online. She gets down to the business of How To Do It along with extras usually NOT seen in other books, such as: including an Oil Property chart so you need not get online to
recall what an oil does, EO blending so that you know the formula of how to blend top,mid and bottom notes, and she even explains briefly what each major fatty acid in oil might do for a bar of soap in the (edited) soap designing section of the book.

On a personal note I joined Ms. Boone yahoo group. She is the only author I am aware of that invites her readers to a group, to email her or ring her with questions. She truly cares for the soap making success of her readers and group members.

I love the pictures and the way the information is presented and would buy it for that alone... I double checked some of the recipes and found the lye amounts to be correct. I especially liked the authors way of incorporating milk into hot processed soaps. I would definitely purchase this book again.... YET!!! I thought her introduction was a bit negative and less than motivating about the joys of soapmaking. Her comparison of Cold-Process to Hot-Process was a bit negative also. I also don't agree with the authors information about oils.. I feel there could have been more research done. She mentions that Olive Oil is a "neutral" oil... I definately don't agree! I have found it to be very "active" and conditioning. And, due to the low iodine content, Olive Oil effectively makes a rock hard bar upon curing. The Oil Characteristics guide was misleading to me also...A waste of my time. I have found Canola Oil to be highly conditioning to almost that of Olive Oil. There is very little mention of curing the soap. Crock Pot temperatures vary along with the abilities and experience of the individual soapmaker. Most hot-processors make soap and let it cure about a week, unless they've tested for neutrality. She doesn't mention a whole lot of testing for this or even viable PH ranges for handcrafted soap. Because of this, I question the ability to make the soap that day and use it later that same day. I would personally increase cooking time a bit to insure soap neutrality. But again this is all my opinion! I did like the book because there is so little out there focusing on the hot-process method. I would purchase this again, and feel it's one for the library, yet don't think it deserves the 5 stars because although an experienced soapmaker would be able to fill in the informational gaps, I wish there was just a bit more for the "new" soaper. I'm a tough judge yet still rated this book pretty darn good!

I loved your book. It made hot processing soap so easy. After several months of trial and error making hot processed soap on my own, I literally stumbled onto your book while searching the web. I ordered it from my local bookstore and have been blessed with wonderful soaping experiences ever since. Your explaination of the various methods, the use of the different additives along with the characteristics of each oil, and your beautiful illustrations led me to try all sorts of new combinations. Along with making my own basic soap recipe, I tried several of your recipes, each one becoming my new favorite! I kept tweeking my own recipe using some of your suggestions and I must say that now, thanks to all your good advice, I make a very nice bar of soap that is beautifully scented. Whether you are aware of it or not, you and I have enjoyed many pleasurable, and successful, hours of soapmaking together. Thank you.

I purchased this book and am dissapointed. It is beautiful, has wonderful color photos, but there is nothing in it that you can't find on the internet. In fact, my internet resources described hot process soap making better than this book did.

Here are my complaints: There is so much repetition. She tells you the basic steps at the beginning, then for each recipe, she goes through them again. That's 16 times these directions are repeated. What a waste of space! She could have, instead, stuffed more useful information.

Also, get this, she spends eight pages telling us how to fill a mold and cut the soap. Does that really need eight pages devoted to it? I think I can figure those things out on my own. (especially the soap cutting part.)I would much rather she have included more photos on the stages the soap goes through while it's cooking, or ways to visually tell when the soap is done. She uses unspecific terms like "Island" and "Waves" when not all soaps will get those "islands" and "waves."

The only reason why I did not give this one star is the charts at the back of the book. They are interesting and are the only meat in the book, however I do question where she gets the information for this. For example, she tells us that soybean oil only has a conditioning number of 2 (10 being most, and 1 being least)Does she know that soybean oil is made of 50.7% Linoleic? And that Linoleic is among one of the more conditioning fatty acids?

There are many other faults (like the recipes) that I could rant about but this review would go on forever. This book, in my opinion, is a prime example of someone who knows the steps but doesn't know the process behind it. She doesn't strike me as an expert and that's why you buy someone's book - because they are the expert on the subject.

This book is wonderful for the beginning soap maker, or the beginning hot process soap maker to use. The step by step color photos leaves little doubt to an inexperienced soap maker what is happening or how the cook progresses. Seeing an exact is a good stress reliever that one does not find on Internet boards or email lists where you will get different opinions as to what you should expect. Each person cooks with different temperatures. The buy different brands and shaped pot and fill the pots to varied levels. This book teaches the new soapmaker the safest way to prepare and cook the soap so it will decrease the risk of boil over to nil as long as they follow directions
accurately.
Hot Process soap does take a little practice to recognize when the soap has newly finished. The book advises to not stir the soap during the cook so the new person can see the by-product of saponification (glycerin) floating on top of the finished soap. This is mentioned in the book, most event on page 101.
If a soap maker reduces the water amount needed or lets her soap cool too long before adding fragrance then yes she will have a poor texture soap. But if one knows the tricks on how to add low flash point fragrances at a slightly higher temperature without losing the scent they do not need cool the soap to the point of it looking like mashed potatoes rather than hot Petroleum Jelly
it should resemble.
As for needing a chemist to explain soap making it is not that hard of an equation: fat and oil plus lye plus water will create enough heat to saponify those ingredients into soap and glycerin. My understanding is that synthetic detergents are what chemists have worked with since about 1942. If that is what a reader is searching for they can probably find this information in Essentially Soap written by a Chemist named Robert McDaniel. But if someone is interested in making real soap the safest way possible, and have patience to practice the craft she is learning, then this book is great! Anything unexplained in the book can be easily asked of the author herself who offers her soap list address in the back of the book. I found this an extremely gracious thing to do and as person who signs my real name as opposed to being anonymous, I will say that this act does not sound like someone who willfully put out a poor book.

Put out by North Light Books it's purpose to show BEGINNING hot process soap makers how easy it really is to make wonderful soaps from scratch that are safe to use when cooled. Included in this book, besides full color pictures on every page, are wonderful charts, tips and vendor listings naming reputable sellers of soap supplies, digital scales, packaging supplies and hard to find items.
I am on the author's list and even though I had already made my first HP soap while waiting for the books release I had to get the book because it is the first of it's kind.
If you are an experienced soap maker then you may not want to invest in a this how to book. But for a beginner it is perfect, explaining to the timid newbie how to make lye soap using heat without worries of soap boil overs. There is a reason for doing it the author's way as opposed to what might be found on the Internet: safety. Whether you are a list member of her group or someone she has never met but purchased her book your safety is her first concern and it shows.
The only down side of the book is what the editors cut out of it! What was turned into them was so much more but there was no room in the predesigned format for everything and the editor chose what to add and what to cut. They chose make a great book into a beginner book. Insulting the author is misdirected by those who criticize. Publishers invest money and make most of the decisions on book content. It is a pity they failed to listen to the author who wanted to put it all in because it truly would have been a soap makers bible if they had.

Great book. Lots of good information on soap making, lots of pictures. I would recommend it for use in conjunction with another book, Milk-based soap, by Casey Makela, as I make goat milk soap, and it doesn't have anything specific to that product. But it will be very helpful otherwise.

I returned this book.

Not that it isn't useful for beginners in the hot process method, and currently the only one available on hot processing methods. However, the subject was treated far too lightly for what could have been the definitive guide on HP methods. The same information has been available for years on the Internet, though without the very nice photos in the book. (Photos which, unfortunately, repeated themselves for the different methods shown).

What I expected the book to do, and didn't, was to answer the major questions associated with hot process, such as 1)How do you know when it is 'done'? 2) How do you add fragrance without flashoff or scent mutation problems associated with higher temperatures -'cooling the soap down' was mentioned, though without any useful details; and 3) How to get the much thicker hot process soap to mold properly without air bubbles. Tapping or banging the molds doesn't really work, especially if you have cooled the soap down to add fragrance. I also take exception to the idea that hot process is 'better' or more up-to-date than cold process. No, it's just a different way of doing things.

I wouldn't say this is a bad book. It just wasn't for me, as there is nothing in there that was new, insightful, or unique. Blame the author or the publisher for cutting down the text, but as it stands this book is all sizzle and no steak.

Being a new soap maker, I wanted all the information I could get my hands on for the different ways of making handmade soap (cold process, hot process, and melt-and-pour). This was the only book that I found that detailed the hot process method which is what I was leaning more towards. I definitely didn't want to use the melt-and-pour method as I wanted the experience of making soap from scratch. I also didn't care too much for the cold process method as it would interfere with some of the natural additives I wanted to use. With hot process, I can add my precious goodies until after the soap is finished cooking. My only complaint about this book is that the information regarding everything aside from the soap making instructions is basic. I would have loved more detail about the benefits of particular oils, however the chart in the back of the book is very useful concerning their properties. Overall, the book is written by a knowledgeable author and the pictures are beautiful. It's a shame the editors cut so much out. If you can find the book used (as it is now out of print), I recommend picking one up. Great addition to any soap maker's library :)