Teach Soap

That's interesting ... I like Cavitch's book (have same one as you have) but also find some of the advice to be a little outdated or even a little over the top. For example, she's paranoid about using clays due to their free silica (terminology?) but how would the end user ever inhale clay particles? It's up to the soapmaker on that one to handle it safely (i.e. not inhale it).

The Cavitch book could actually be a lot shorter because she repeats the "process" of how to actually make the soap after every new recipe. Yet the processes are pretty much identical.

Would you believe the Complete Idiot's Guide has a fair bit of good technical information? It's not edited well at all IMO which may not be the fault of the authors but the publisher. So it's disorganized to read and there are mistakes. But the actual information seemed quite thorough to me.

Karri

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I soap therefore I am.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

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I soap therefore I am.

So I received Scientific Soapmaking (Kevin Dunn) in the mail from Amazon last week.

This is an incredibly thorough book!

I don't think I'll be doing many of the "experiments" however. Way way too tedious for me. That said, just reading through it is educational. (Some parts I've skimmed but he really does cover off the science of soap in a way I've not seen before.)

One thing that new soapers might want to be extremely cautious of though is that , if I'm interpreting his instructions correctly, for some of the experiments he has the reader mix up 50% lye solutions. Eeep! I understand his scientific reasons for doing this but that's a big caution that perhaps isn't underscored enough. However, he does work in grams which perhaps facilitates accuracy.

He talks about pre-mixing lye ahead of time too. Anyone here do that? I've read that some soapers master batch this way but something about that method doesn't appeal to me. Perhaps because I would worry about water accidentally evaporating out of my solution or that I wouldn't get the "benefit" of the exothermic reaction for temps while soaping. Also, I've got little ones around and the thought of a giant batch of lye solution sitting in my house (even in a locked safe) freaks me out!

Interesting interesting interesting stuff though! Anyone else read this book yet?
Karri

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I soap therefore I am.

My favorite so far has also been Alicia Grosso's 'Everything Soapmaking'. I like her easily understandable style.
is a link to a site for a book called Soap Naturally by Patrizia Garzena & Marina Tadiello. Could this possibly be the book some of you were looking for? At $35 is is a bit more then some but a good investment if it is one of the best.

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Have a Blessed Day

Actually I don't believe you can get Soap Naturally in North America for under $125. Not joking

I spent some time cruising through their site and there is lots of good info there ... but some of it seems outdated or doesn't really ring true for me. But that's subjective. I'd still love to get my hands on the book so I'll have to check with our library system and see.

I liked Grosso's book too, one of the better ones IMO, especially if you're starting out. Very easy to understand.

Karri

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I soap therefore I am.