The Soapmaker's Companion: A Comprehensive Guide with Recipes, Techniques & Know-How

by Susan Miller Cavitch

Overview

In this comprehensive guide, Susan Miller Cavitch covers everything you need to know to make your own soaps. Learn the basic techniques for crafting oil-, cream-, and vegetable-based soaps, and then start experimenting with your own personalized scents and effects. Cavitch provides tips for making more than 40 different specialty soaps, showing you how to design colorful marbled bars and expertly blend ingredients to create custom fragrances. You’ll soon be making luxurious soaps at a fraction of the cost of boutique products.

Important Notice
Early printings of this book contain a recipe variation in a sidebar note on page 36. As a result of further testing, author Susan Miller Cavitch and Storey Publishing strongly recommend that you do not try this variation. Adding honey when you are combining the sodium hydroxide and water may result in a stronger reaction with more intense heat. The mixture may bubble up quickly and come out of the pot, posing a potential hazard.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780882669656
Publisher:	Storey Publishing, LLC
Publication date:	01/07/1997
Series:	Natural Body Series - The Natural Way to Enhance Your Life
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	511,772
Product dimensions:	8.05(w) x 8.05(h) x 0.95(d)

About the Author

Author Susan Miller Cavitch is the founder and president of Soap Essentials, Inc., a Memphis-based retail mail-order company producing homemade herbal products. She is the author of The Natural Soap Book and The Soapmaker's Companion. She lives in Eads, Tennessee.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Part I - Soapmaking in the Kitchen

Recipes

Chapter 1. Recipes for Vegetable-Based Soaps

Chapter 2. Special Techniques

Chapter 3. Making Transparent Soaps

Ingredients

Chapter 4. An Overview of Soapmaking Oils

Chapter 5. Using Natural Colorants

Chapter 6. Creating Scents from Around the World

Practical Know-How

Chapter 7. Determining Soapmaking Temperatures

Chapter 8. Diagnosing Signs of Trouble

Chapter 9. Answers to Soapmakers' Most-Asked Questions

Part II - Soapmaking in the Library

Chapter 10. Resins

Chapter 11. Minerals and Clays

Chapter 12. Saturated versus Unsaturated Soap Formulas

Chapter 13. The Chemistry of Soapmaking

Part III - Soapmaking in the Marketplace

Chapter 14. Soapmaking Online

Chapter 15. Starting a Soap Business

Chapter 16. Insuring Your Business

Chapter 17. Federal Regulation of Soapmaking

Appendix

IndeX

Editorial Reviews

"The Soapmaker's Companion will teach you everything you need to know about making liquid soap; laundry soap; marbled soap; transparent soap; multicolored, layered soap; and more."

“…a must-have book for anyone interested in soapmaking.”

From the Publisher

…a must-have book for anyone interested in soapmaking.”

The Herb Companion

"The Soapmaker's Companion will teach you everything you need to know about making liquid soap; laundry soap; marbled soap; transparent soap; multicolored, layered soap; and more."

Houston Chronicle