Soap Making books

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Cattleyabubbles

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2008
Messages
214
Reaction score
0
Location
Atlanta, Ga
What were your favorite soap making books (authors) to read regarding the various methods of soap making, when you first started? A compiled list of soap making books would help those that are new (like myself, who never made soap) have a reference list to go for further research, and to add to their personal library for future reference. Thanks
 
When I started I went to amazon.com and searched soap books. When the list comes up you can read reviews that everyone else has written on each book. I found that helpful. But not as helpful as all the soapers in this forum.

Bruce
 
I only have the one book - The Complete Soapmaker by Norma Coney - it has some good basic recipes in it as well as interesting ideas for rebatching (milling). I have found forums like this one to be where I learned the most. I spent months reading and reading before I made my first batch - I was so afraid of the lye. :oops: There are a couple of books I would like to get but I can wait - after all I've got all of you.... :roll:
 
Right now I do MP (trying to jump into CP but can't find lye that I can afford, argh!) so I'm loving all the books by Marie Browning, among others..

(300 hand crafted soaps or something along those lines, is really good)
 
I don't have any soapmaking books, I have picked them up in the shop and looked at them and realised that as far as value for money goes, I would rather come home, log onto this forum, spend the money that I saved on not buying the book on oils and supplies instead.
I also lurked around this forum for months without joining in any conversations, just reading and absorbing as much information as I could, and visiting all the webites,
and soapcalc is great, they can't put that in a book!
 
A friend loaned me his copy of Susan Miller Cavitch's "The Natural Soap Book"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0882668889/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
I spent a couple of weeks reading about the history and basics of soap making and also the personal stories she shared. I dug in a little deeper and did some more research online and went back to the book to re-read some things that now made more sense. I also found some instructional videos on YouTube so I could actually witness the process.

Then I jumped in with both feet and started making soap!! :D

I've since heard both good and bad opinions of this book and her other book "Soap Maker's Companion". Honestly the book was a great way to break the ice in the absence of a person to show me the ropes. My friend who loaned me the book had never actually made any. But now I find pretty much everything I need online... especially in this message board and the teachsoap forum.

I still have a lot to learn but the one big lesson I learned is that the book shows her favorite 8 pound basic recipe and that is too large for a first attempt. Fortunately mine turned out great but if I had made mistakes (as I've done since) I would have wasted a lot of supplies. I now do 1 pound test batches until I am satisfied and ready for a larger quantity. I learned that by browsing these forums. I've also learned about a lot of other resources like better places to get supplies and tools and how to use online soap calculators.

There is a lot of good free information here and lots of wonderful, generous people willing to share it. Thanks a lot... you know who you are. :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The Soapmaker's Companion - I loved the step-by-step instructions for my first batch of soap.

The Everything Soapmaking Book - includes several processes + cream soapmaking!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top