Melt & Mold Soap Crafting (Paperback)

~ C. Kalia Westerman (Author) "Melt-and-mold soap crafting is a relatively new hobby that's becoming more popular every year..." (more)
Key Phrases: Special Materials, Degree of Difficulty, Madam Walker

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Westerman offers an array of basic techniques and imaginative designs.” – Houston Chronicle

 

Product Description

Soapmaking has never been this easy! The revolutionary melt-and-mold method is taking the craft world by storm. Beginning with a meltable glycerin base, crafters can create stunning specialty soaps in minutes, with no lye and no waiting. It's as easy as melt, pour, mold, and decorate.

Melt-and-mold master C. Kaila Westerman shares her recipes for fabulous fun creations, such as Stained Glass Soap, Cat's Eyes, Flower Images, Sunrise Soap, Layer Cake Soap, Quilters Soap, Gemstones, and many more. The variations are limited only by the crafter's imagination. Color, fragrance, and other desired additives offer great creative possibilities for manipulating light, form, and color; this book includes stunning color photos and simple step-by-step instructions for 30 different techniques. Readers will learn how they too can melt, mix, and pour their way to unique transparent bars in all colors, shapes, and sizes. It's fun, fast, and easy.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC; illustrated edition edition (August 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580172938
• ISBN-13: 978-1580172936
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #175,949 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring and Easy to Do Too!, January 21, 2002

By	sfbibliophile "sfbibliophile" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This is my favorite melt and craft soap book, despite my four star rating. The instructions are easy to follow and the numerous photos are great to look at. Even the book's covers are attractive. My favorite projects are the 2 color swirled soaps with a marblized appearance, the faux french milled soap, a bath salts box, and fruit cane citrus slice soap.

The author's great instructions on layering and cane building have been most useful in turning my ideas into workable soap pictures. The faux milled soap is also great because I know people that don't consider translucent soap to be "real" soap, no matter how pretty. I absolutely adore the bath salts box, made with a chocolate box mold, because it can be used to hold smaller sized soaps or as a utilitarian air freshner. It's less of a hassle to keep one of these on my desk at work than a bar of soap--very cool! Beginners will really appreciate the troublshooting sections and tips so that you can correct problems and learn how to decrease/increase ingredient to achieve certain effects, like making a soap clearer in appearance.

I gave the book four stars because it doesn't contain a lot of information about fragrance mixing or which kinds of plant materials can be safely included in a soap. This is a minor quibble as the breadth of projects are more than enough to keep someone busy for quite some time. I would have given the book 4.5 stars I could. Whether you're thinking of crafting soap for your own enjoyment or to start a business, you can't do much better than this book.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Starting Place for Melt and Pour , June 1, 2005

By	Quaker Annie "reader" - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Although this has a slick commercial look about it (I tend to doubt the usefulness of commercial stuff!), this is a great beginner's book for learning and doing Melt and Pour soapmaking.

This was the first book I bought, so perhaps there is some sentimental value for me. But it has clear written and graphic instructions on melt and pour soaping, along with useful information such as a guide to additives, basic information about setting up your work area, selecting and preparing your molds, determining the right temperature (thermometers are not so necessary in melt and pour, so you're going by 'behavior' and look of the glycerin). A troubleshooting page is included -- even with melt and pour, there will be problems! She has small sections (sometimes just a page) on mastering fragances, color theories, and other useful bits throughout the book.

Please note that in my reviews, recipes are very secondary to me. In looking at and using soapmaking books, I'm looking for information on how to (create swirls, mix colors or scents in better, use additives, package, wrap, sell). Recipes give me ideas for recipes to make on my own.

I like the variety she offers -- very brief bits on all kinds of soap making - loaf, french milled soaps, commemorative soaps, tube (cane) soaps, leftover soaps (she calls this shelter soap, which makes me wince a bit), soaps with small toys in them, bath salts, soap tassels (invented by Sandy Maine, see my review of one of her books), gemstoneskitchen soap and more).

Her recipes are written as instructions, telling you what you will learn. About 30 recipes, ranging in level of difficulty from one (moldless soap, saving face soap, tropical indulgence soap are examples) to five (Kaila's happy to be bar). She has a recipes for a Victorian bridesmade cake soap (difficulty level four) that looks good enough to eat. Most are in the one to three difficulty level.

Four stars, though, not five. This book is missing some information, and its sources in the back are incomplete. You will need a lot more detailed information for learning how to develop your own recipes. And I wasn't impressed by the picture, on the rainbow loaf soap page, of food coloring bottles -- food coloring is inexpensive, handy and can be used, but it will not last. No note is made of that in this section, though it really should be noted for beginners.


A basic book for beginners -- and fun recipes to try and to add to your own collection.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth the price, January 26, 2001

By A Customer

I enjoyed this book a lot. It has very clear instructions and troubleshooting tips. It also has a great resource list of suppliers including internet addresses. The book also focuses on techniques and encourages the reader to create their own recipes. Another plus: recipes are rated by difficultly. My only complaint was that several recipes call for small amounts of hard to find and/or expensive ingredients. I recommend the book to anyone new to soapmaking who is unwilling to work with lye