# Are these books worth the money?



## Faithful Crown Nubians (Dec 5, 2007)

The Everything Soapmaking Book  by Alicia Grosso
The Natural Soap Book  by Susan Miller Cavitch
How to Make Specialty Goat's Milk Soaps

Thanks in advance!


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

I have the 2nd one and like it. Online resources are my fav though


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

I think I have the first two, but honestly, you will learn more here than in those books.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

jdranch said:


> I have the 2nd one and like it. Online resources are my fav though


 :yeahthat


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

I have all three plus one more. I like to be able to read a book but the Failor books are really the only ones I have actually used in soapmaking. I have gleaned information from online forums for years.

Now my all time favorite books for products other than soap are ebooks from swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com. Great information and your donation for the book goes to her work with youth groups. I print them off and put them in a 3 ring binder.


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

Yes, her stuff is wonderful! (Oh, yeah, I have Failor's liquid soap book, too.)


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

adillenal said:


> Now my all time favorite books for products other than soap are ebooks from swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com.


+1- great resource!


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

Save your money and use the Walmart recipe. Once you have a hang of that recipe (with help from DGI) you will be on your way. Take the extra $ you would have used and buy your supplies. 

I have Failors liquid soap book, but it takes some time before you will be making liquid soap. Do a basic Walmart recipe first with no GM. 

Just my 2 cents.


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## Faithful Crown Nubians (Dec 5, 2007)

I've made GM soap before, I want to learn to start making my own recipes...and I have tried posting about that on here and I say this with respect, I did not get the help I wanted/needed...I was just referred to the recipes that have been posted before.  And that's quite fine. 

Any book recommendations that explain how to make/put together a recipe? (Or website recommendations) And also what oils are what and what they do and all that information?

Thankyou


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

The Natural Soap Book talks about what the different oils do. The great thing about the WM recipe is enter that into one of the soap calcs and see what properties those fats/oils bring. Then start subbing different combos while still trying to keep similar criteria regarding hardness, lather(s), cleansing/moisturizing, etc.

Although it's a lotion-making site, www.swiftcraftymonkey.com has tons of info on the different oils (again, not related to soapmaking). You can also check out thedish and soapmakingforum.com.


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## Faithful Crown Nubians (Dec 5, 2007)

MF-Alpines said:


> The Natural Soap Book talks about what the different oils do. The great thing about the WM recipe is enter that into one of the soap calcs and see what properties those fats/oils bring. Then start subbing different combos while still trying to keep similar criteria regarding hardness, lather(s), cleansing/moisturizing, etc.
> 
> Although it's a lotion-making site, www.swiftcraftymonkey.com has tons of info on the different oils (again, not related to soapmaking). You can also check out thedish and soapmakingforum.com.


Thankyou


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

Faithful Crown Nubians said:


> I've made GM soap before, I want to learn to start making my own recipes...and I have tried posting about that on here and I say this with respect, I did not get the help I wanted/needed...I was just referred to the recipes that have been posted before.  And that's quite fine.
> 
> Any book recommendations that explain how to make/put together a recipe? (Or website recommendations) And also what oils are what and what they do and all that information?
> 
> Thankyou


When I *invented* my recipe, I spent days... no months at http://soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp . I would enter different oils and butters, press calculate recipe, then look at the values for hardness, cleansing, etc. I kept adjusting until I had something that looked good (to me, we all have different things we want in a soap) on paper. Then I would make that recipe and evaluate the actual soap, then go back and based on what I thought the soap needed more or less of, I would tweak the recipe and repeat the process.. It was a lengthy process that took a lot of time. I learned a lot though and glad I went through the experience.

HTH


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## prairie nights (Jan 16, 2009)

We came up with our recipes by making soap. Made soap, tried different oils, adjusted amounts, etc. One really good piece of advice I got from books was to try a batch of soap with every single oil to really see what it does (rather than have to memorize charts and values) and how you like it on your skin, how hard or soft it is, how long it takes to cure. That has been our route to our own recipes - experimenting as well as reading, you can't go wrong reading everything you can get your hands on. We have about 5 different formulas now and I love all of them for different reasons.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

prairie nights said:


> We came up with our recipes by making soap. Made soap, tried different oils, adjusted amounts, etc. One really good piece of advice I got from books was to try a batch of soap with every single oil to really see what it does (rather than have to memorize charts and values) and how you like it on your skin, how hard or soft it is, how long it takes to cure. That has been our route to our own recipes - experimenting as well as reading, you can't go wrong reading everything you can get your hands on. We have about 5 different formulas now and I love all of them for different reasons.


Really, Jana? But when you combine different oils, then you get a completely different soap!

As an example, one of my recipes, Barb tried. She had me adjust it, just a tad, and it was a world of difference. And we're only talking 2% of the recipe.

I think what Amy's talking about is why reinvent the wheel. Yes, there is a learning curve and she needs to learn it. But she doesn't need to start completely from scratch. LOL! Guess that's why everyone says use the WM recipe. Gosh darn, I love that recipe!


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