Customer Reviews

Making Candles and Soaps For Dummies

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

 

 

The Weakest of Books, Better Available

Being a professional candle maker (3rd generation) and an avid reader, I have a huge collection of candle and soap making books. After looking over "Making Candles & Soaps for Dummies" for perhaps the 3rd time, I can honestly say that there are many better books covering both subjects. This book covers only the very basic information and will leave you with more questions than answers.

For the candle side, I highly recommend Beginner's Guide to Candlemaking or the instructional video Introduction To Candle Making

On the soap side, try Smart Soapmaking: The Simple Guide to Making Traditional Handmade Soap Quickl Safely, and Reliably, or How to Make Luxurious Handcrafted Soaps for Family, Friends, and Yourself.

These are both great hobbies that can become good sideline business and there are good resources available on the subject... this book is not one of them.

If you've never made a candle, or done pour-and-mold soap, this book will tell you how. It will also warn you of every concievable mishap you could encounter. In today's litigious society, I suppose that's required, but it did detract from the rest of the work, in my opinion. Then again, I was looking for pointers and updates on materials, since I hadn't made any candles since the late 1980's. In that regard, it introduced me to soy wax and a few products I did not know existed.

However, the pictures offered were not all that helpful, and the instructions very basic. Any of this information could be gotten from a decent online search. The best part of this book was the part in the back which listed a lot of websites for supplies and further information.

I found the author's style to be rather pedantic, and overly "upbeat", as if she were trying too hard to make this a fun and enjoyable book by interjecting bits of humorous commentary that didn't quite "gel".

As a series, the "for Dummies" line seems to me to be stretching a bit thin. I have quite a few of them, and the originality of the first few made learning fun. Now it simply makes it tedious, and the attempts at fun and humor are becoming tiresome.

All in all, the series overall has become what the name implies: books for beginners and dilettantes. There is nothing wrong with that, by any means. But it wasn't what I was looking for in this book.

I did not read the sections on candle making, so this review is strictly based on the soap sections. I found this book to be one of the most helpful ones I've read (I checked out a lot from the library). True, it does not cover the cold process, but as the more simple, melt and pour method is all that I'm interested in, this book is right on target for my needs.

In addition to the color and fragrance info, it discusses stenciled soap, soap on a rope, variegated soap, embedded soap, three-dimensional soap, imprinted soap, soap balls, customized shampoo, massage oil, bath salts liquid soap and more.

I also enjoyed Chapter 19 which is devoted entirely to aromatherapy. It lets you know what a particular scent is noted for (i.e. boosting memory, fighting infections, relieving congestion, calming effect, etc.), as well as whether it is photosensitizing (increases your chance for a sunburn), a possible irritant to sensitive skin, possesses antibacterial qualities, etc.

I appologize that this is not an actual review of the book but a warning about one of the merchants that the book suggests you buy products from. I suggest that you DO NOT order soap making products from Well Naturally Products. Check out the Better Business Bureau on line first. I unfortunately failed to do that and had my credit card billed 60.00 and so far it's been a month with no products and no replys to my inquiries.
This may have been a fine company when the book was written...but I'm not so sure about that now.

I usually love the "Dummies" books and was hoping this one could teach me about soapmaking. It really didn't have much in the way of helpful information and I ended it returning it.

Of the many books I bought on soap making this was the worst. It had no real information in it. It skimmed on all the topics but never really explained how or why. The books written in the early 1900 on soap were more helpful than this one.

Book does not discuss the cold or hot method, the former is the most important method of making real soap by home or cottage industry soap makers. Why not ? The author claims it can be too dangerous for you (I guess we are dummies), but I suspect the true motive is to boost sales (for melt and pour base) and thus profits for craft stores. But what is in those bases (who knows) and using that stuff is like saying your a baker because you baked a cake from an instant cake box. (I did not read candle section).

There were conflicting pieces of information in this book. I am sorry I bought it.

This book gave helpful hints, was explained in plain English and was well it's price in prevention of mistakes. I definitely recommend for anyone who is starting to make soap or candles to read and follow this book until you get your own process down.

i loved the book, and it was basically new. the shipping was great and i got it a couple days before it was expected and that was great. i would definitely buy from this seller again