The Handmade Soap Book (Hardcover)

by Melinda Coss (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"But it is Melinda Coss, in "The Handmade Soap Book" who assures the uninitiated that they can make soap. She is the playful coach who, with humor and joy, shows the delightful side of soapmaking. Her book is also chock-full of the work of still-life photographer Emma Pelos, and sure to capture the heart of any gardener. It is a creative presentation that brings out the extraordinary beauty of ordinary garden goods, such as herbs, fruit, and twine, in combination with soap." -- The Register-Guard

Product Description
Readers can easily craft a wide variety of unique bath products from one basic recipe using the easy, step-by-step instructions.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC (January 9, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580170846
• ISBN-13: 978-1580170840
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 9.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #517,824 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Only One You'll Need, December 14, 1999

By A Customer

This was the first soap book I read and I keep coming back to it! The recipes are easy to follow and the author encourages you to experiment with different ingredients. I have had tremendous success with these and have become a total soap addict! The pictures are exquisite and inspiring. The list of suppliers and internet links were also very helpful.

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Most recipes are lye heavy..., November 27, 2000

By	Jane R Milner (Grass Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

I bought this book after reading all the reviews as one of my information sources for soap making. However, now that I have about a year's worth of experience, I would not recommend this book for the beginner. ALL of her recipes need to be checked with a lye calculator as they are lye heavy. This will cause the soaps to be crumbly, harsh, drying. She also feels that beeswax is needed in most of her recipes, which one doesn't need. Also, most experienced soapers wouldn't use such high amounts of coconut oil as this is drying, even though it makes wonderful lather. Fresh fruit nave no place in cold process soap...they will mold. Fragrances need to be added at the rate of about .5 ounce per pound of oils, she falls way short, so the soaps will have very little fragrance. The photographs appear wonderful, until you have experience making soaps, then you will notice how lye heavy they are. The amount of water that is needed in her recipes is also off. Her recipes are small (32 ounces) so your margin for error is very slim. I suppose you could use the book for ideas, but you really need to rework the recipes. After you have learned how to make cold process soap elsewhere.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lovely Photos, Iffy Recipes, May 4, 2001

By	S. D. Shaver (Mooville, MO United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The recipes in this book are, compared to the recipes in the Susan Miller Cavitch "Soapmaker's Companion", deceptively simple. This can be good and bad -- I've made two soaps from this book, and one came out super-soft and the other came out fine. As for their lye content -- yes, compared to Cavitch's computations, they do seem on the heavy side. Someone recommended calculating before you make the recipes, and I think that's a good suggestion.

The photos are gorgeous, and give you a sense of what your final product will look like. She has some good technique suggestions, and the standard list of sap values for soaps. Her list of ten things to do when making soap is amusing.

But I don't recommend this as a first book for beginning soapmakers. I do recommend it if you are buying it along with other books on soapmaking (such as the above-mentioned Cavitch book) and for those who are moderately familiar with soap-making.

This book does contain animal-fat based recipes, which can be a drawback to some.