2 comments about Candle Making in a Weekend : Inspirational Ideas and Practical Projects.

1. Colorful and practical. This book has great ideas for decorative candles. Each idea has step by step instructions (as well as pictures so you can double check your work) for basic techniques that stand alone or can be combined with others to make more elaborate candles.

   This is a book of projects. If you're looking for a history of the techniques/materials used to create these candles you won't get it. But if you want quick ideas without alot of informational interference, this is it.




2. After looking through stacks of books featuring floating candles, sand candles, and red white and blue beeswax cutout candles, I settled on this book for its introduction to a variety of techniques. This book answered questions I had on how to keep the wick still in votives, pouring temperature for different types of candles, how to make drip candles, and how to inlay objects. The author offers useful tricks for completing each project successfully accompanied with step by step photographs. The main thing I love about this book is that I can adapt its techniques to make my own creative projects.

No comments about Simple Pleasures Candles (Simple Pleasures).

1 comments about Good Gifts from the Home: Candles, Bubble Baths, and Other Romantic Gifts--Make Beautiful Gifts to Give (or Keep).

1. I have been trying to order this book for a while but each time something went wrong. I am happy to say I finally received the book and in record time from one of the best sellers at Market Place. I was surprised how small the book was with little or no photos showing the project or even the step by step guides. Granted the receipes are simple and easy to follow written guidelines I just feel cheated if there is no pictures. Overall I am going to rate the book a 4 because of the simplistic nature of the receipes I am excited to start trying them. I sell soaps on the side (when I am not book selling) and I find some of the best receipes are 3-5 ingrediants and takes 5 minutes to prepare. The hardcover is nice and tight the book itself is small but text size is normal.I did not realize that a big portion of the book (half) would be on candlemaking. While interesting it is not what I needed. There is approx. 33 soap/bath beauty receipes of which I will use about 75-80% of so I do like the book. I would of given 5 stars but they lost one star because of the lack of Pictures. (Dj has a nice one. I recommend you cannot go wrong-Too simple for the professional soaper, I am just thrilled it doesn't call for all the complicated ones I have to do. As a Gift I would Highly Recommend.

5 comments about Essentially Candles: The Elegant Art of Candle Making & Embellishing.

1. Ingredient selection for candles can be baffling, but Dr. Bob covers the gamut and tells which work or when there is a better way to do things. Lots of projects with easily available equipment as well as how to use fancy molds, or even make your own molds! Over 250 beautiful color pictures make procedures and results easy to understand. The section on how much wax is needed for a particular mold is invaluable, and I personally love the section on wax characteristics.
   The FAQ is quite complete and look for tips on the best ways to make or avoid mottled candles, glossy candles, and which special ingredients can be replaced by the right technique. This is a valuable book for scout leaders, first timers, and experienced candlemakers alike. But then, what would you expect from the authors of Essentially Soap.



2. I was first struck by the photo content. It seems that procedures to make every common type of candle (and several uncommon ones as well) are fully illustrated with lots of photos that make reproducing the results extremely easy to follow. Not only that but the authors helped to dispell my bewildernment over the many, many ingredients available on the market which are useful (or not) for producing special effects. For instance, the suggestion to forget gloss ingredients and use higher temperatures in making the candle is simple and highly practical.
   I own or have looked through almost every candle book on the market, and I think this one is clearly the best resource book available. I just wish it were longer.
   Finally, to my surprise, I discovered that this is the only book that is recommended by my primary ingredient supplier. They seem to agree that it is the most factual and accurate book on the market suitable for those getting started as well as for those needing more info as they scale up.



3. De. Bob should stick to soap. His candle making book is not for a beginner who just wants to know the basics in simple terms and get started. Although I am sure some of the information will be helpful to the more advanced, it was not what I was looking for to get started.



4. If you are only going to invest in one book -- this should be the one! In addition to instructions to create classic and creative candles, there are great explanations of wax types, molds, safety precautions, and more. All this information is presented with words of encouragement and enhanced with well-photographed examples.



5. This book lacks enough detail on the basics and focuses too much on advanced projects to be a good beginners book. The photos are nice but often not very helpful. If you have experience as a candle maker, you might find some good ideas. True beginners should look to "Basic Candle Making" by Eric Ebeling, editor.

1 comments about Gel Candles.

1. The photography in this book is great. Some of the tips are very good, but I also found some of the instructions to be outdated. There are a few nice projects. Since this is my first time making any kind of candle, I feel this book is for a more experience crafter.

No comments about Carving in Soap: North American Animals.

No comments about Small-Scale Soapmaking: A Handbook.

5 comments about Good Gifts from the Home: Soaps, Shampoos & Other Suds: Make Beautiful Gifts to Give (or Keep) (Good Gifts from the Home).

1. I was excited when I read this book I quickly started looking for the ingredients to make my first soap. It was easy to make and very nice.

   I am, although, having a hard time locating shampoo concentrate for the shampoo recipes.




2. You can really be creative by using Kelly's base recipes and customizing them to your exact tastes for color and fragrance. We made all our Christmas gifts to rave reviews and the all natural ingredients are safe for the kids to use.



3. Kelly Reno's book is great for beginners. It has simpler recipes where one doesn't have to buy all types of exotic ingredients. I especially liked the section on melt and pour soap recipes using glycerin soap. This is a great project for kids and for those who are a little hesitant to work with lye!



4. From the eyes of a beginner this book is great because most of the recipes don't cost a bundle or contain harmful chemicals like lye. (I dont think I want to experiment with lye just yet). This book also has ideas that are inexpensive and easy to follow. "Die-hard" soap makers that believe in only absolutly made-from-scratch recipes will most definatly not apprieciate this book. Many of the recipes start from store bought soap and shampoo which in my opinion does not reduce the quality of the end results. The things in this book are great for presents. I've actually have been asked by one of my friends if I would sell some of the things I make at her store!



5. This book is great for kids, or for those who enjoy "remilling" soaps. It wasn't what I was expecting, but still a good book. It is good for those that don't want to measure out lye, but I would recommend you look elsewhere if you are looking to make soap from scratch.

1 comments about Complete Book of Candles and Candlemaking (The Complete Book of).

1. I really enjoyed this book, but it isn't what I thought it might be. I wish there had been a review of it. It has beautiful photos and beautiful candles, but it isn't really a teaching book with specific instructions. For those of you who are already adept at candle making, it is an inspiring book filled with good ideas. With that said, I think it is a better book for the "Martha Stewart" fans who are looking for great ways to arrange candles. Most of the candle making ideas are tried and true ideas (such as the snowball candle) that are simply arranged in more decorative ways. There are other books that work better for instructional purposes, but this is a beautiful book.

3 comments about Making Scented Soap: 60 fragrant soaps and bath bombes to make at home.

1. The concern of using SDS and EDTA on my daughter's skin made me look into making my own soaps. I browsed about a dozen of books and this is the only one I bought. It is a great book. It is concise and informative. It is practical, yet it's not "dry". It was written by someone who wants to TEACH you how to make soaps. It overviews base oils and their properties, botanicals and essential oils. It shows how to make cold-processed soap bars, liquid soap, clear soap, massage melts and bath bombs. Many recipes are listed, but most important it delivers a ground knowledge that you can use to design your own recipes, if you so chose. The chapter about resources shall direct you well, whether you want to buy in Europe, the U.S. or Australia. Lye calculator and all recipes are given in both metric and imperial. The pictures are magnificent. I recommend this book.



2. This is a great book!! It has very clear instructions, explains the chemistry in a straightforward way and has beautiful photographs of the finished products. I got this to make bath bombs (it's very easy with her instructions!!) and am inspired to try more-- massage melts, soaps, etc. Diverse, creative recipes. Definitely worth every penny and more!!!



3. Before I started making soap, I researched several books on the subject. Many books in the market are helpful. Depending on what type of soap you are seeking to prepare, what is your budget for equipment/supplies and finally how much time you would like to spend in the kitchen, these are all very important things to know before you start the craft of soapmaking. There are many different methods that can help you achieve soapmaking, this is why I recommend that beginners do some type of research before starting this craft. I am a beginner and read most books. I read from the oldest method of soapmaking to the newest. Now, since I love cooking and art, I decided to make cold processing soap (involves using lye, etc.) because I love the art form of making such a beautiful product plus it also allows me to control what I use as my soap base.
   
   This book has far been the best book on making good-quality soap. Why? Because the recipes include base oils, herbs and essential oils that make these soaps outstanding. Now, with this said... it may be costly, again depending on your budget and if you do your homework. I purchased most of my ingredients online and saved money. This is craft that can be taken both ways.. if you want something easy to make, faster to use and economical, then melt & pour may be your niche since MP soap can be used immediately versus CP which requires time to cure (upto 4-6 wks.)
   
   I have made soap using these recipes on this book and they were perfect. The scents are wonderful and are curing as I type. The instructions are easy to understand in this book. My only suggestion would be 1) I find out that the temperature of both the base oils and lye should be 100 rather than the suggested temperature in the book before blending together and 2) I experienced a great challenge when I tried to take the soap out of the mold. I didn't use any type of mold release and had difficulty releasing my soap. So, the next batch I placed a plastic trash bag inside my mold and this worked great but had lots of wrinkles on my dry soap. What I did to avoid these problems is that I purchased a mold that requires no freezer paper, bag or mold release. This mold is sold on ebay for an excellent price. So far, I've made 3 batches and can't wait to use my scented soap.
   
   I hope this review helps soapmakers and that they enjoy the craft just as much as I am.