books

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

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

keekee505

Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2020
Messages
13
Reaction score
17
Location
ireland
Hi can anyone recommend some good books for a beginner.
I just want to learn the best oils to use while keeping it simple.
How to use essential oils for smell
and using other ingredients like honey oats and seaweed.
 
Hi can anyone recommend some good books for a beginner.
I just want to learn the best oils to use while keeping it simple.
How to use essential oils for smell
and using other ingredients like honey oats and seaweed.
There are some good books out there but for the most up to date information the best place to find it is online.

If you google SAP values you will find some downloadble PDF's with the information about the oils SAP value along with other pertinent information. I either just download them and save them or sometimes I will print them out.
 
Hi can anyone recommend some good books for a beginner.
That's a really good question!
When I first started, I borrowed as many books on soapmaking and essential oils as were available from the library. I learned on my own that first year until I finally joined an online forum.

If you can find a copy of Soap Naturally that one is probably the best all around soaping book and has recipes for other B & B products as well. It's outrageously expensive now. The link has it at a greatly reduced price of $89.00!!! YIKES!

Not a book, but you can learn the basics right here in the Beginner's Forum:

Learn to Soap Online

And from SMF's Soapmakng Guru @DeeAnna:

DeeAnna's Soapy Stuff
 
Last edited:
Got it! After sleeping on it, I went through the soapmaking books I keep for reference. I had forgotten about

Handcrafted Soap by Delores Boone

It is a beautiful book, published in 2002, that has gobs of gorgeous pictures of every area of soapmaking. The information is well-organized and there are a lot of charts for ready reference. It is easy to read and understand without a lot of yada yada that you can pick up later as you become more experienced. The only drawback is she doesn't discuss "CP" (Cold Process); only "HP" (Hot Process) and "M&P" (Melt & Pour) soap.

Click on the link to go to Amazon. Then click on the picture of the book where it says "See Inside" to get an idea of all the cool pictures. I actually bought this book for inspiration in the early days of my soap making journey as well as for its Charts & References. :thumbs:

It is also available at Thrift Books for $8.69.

Two more books that I have that are more detailed are by Susan Miller Cavitch. The Natural Soap book and Soapmakers Companion would be my 2nd and 3rd recommendations.

CAUTION: All the soap recipes (Boone & Cavitch) are large and should be run through a lye calculator first before soaping. Use the Default Settings. They should also be re-sized to fit your mold and to make small 16 oz. / 500 gram batches that are highly recommended for Beginners (less waste if things don't go as planned. :))

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Soap Making! :nodding:

ETA: I just noticed that you are in Ireland. My bad. In that case, The Soap Naturally book would be better. All the recipes are in metric.
 
Last edited:
I suggest visiting your local library and checking what they have on soapmaking. Some libraries have decent resources; some do not. But if your library allows inter-library borrowing, you can often find some of the more popular books people here will recommend and borrow them.

Reading before making a decision to purchase can be beneficial because you may find some aren't really what you feel is a must-have resource, but others may strike you as worthy of adding to your permanent library.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top