Debbie Chialtas of Soapylove has published her first book, SoapyLove: Squeaky-clean projects using melt and pour soap, and it does not disappoint! SoapyLove is not only a great introductory book for the beginner melt and pour soap crafter, but will teach soapmaking veterans some new tricks as well.
The first portion of the book has an overview of basic melt and pour techniques and materials, such as preventing surface bubbles; adding colorants, micas, and fragrances; layering soaps; and cutting soap. The balance of the book is dedicated to projects and more detailed techniques. Some of the skills taught are layering, embedding shapes, cutting out shapes, soap on a rope, marbling, and using transfer sheets to create designs.
There are 25 wonderful projects included in SoapyLove, and several of the projects also have other suggested ideas for the skills used in the project. Projects include cameo bars, checkered stars, heavenly bars (clouds and grass with a blue sky), marbled ice cream cones, soap tarts (toaster pastries), and soap candies. A couple of my personal favorites include the flame bars and plaid soaps.
Each project has lots of full color pictures and step-by-step instructions. While some of the projects are better suited to more advanced melt and pour soapcrafters, beginners should have no problem with the majority of the projects included.
The only thing that I would like to have been included would be a short resource guide in the back as a reference. While Chialtas does mention some brand names of items and the occasional store, it would be helpful, especially for beginners, to have a resource guide giving more specific information on where to find some of the items, such as fragrances and molds, from such a seasoned soapmaker. All in all, this is definitely the best melt and pour soap crafting book that I have seen! Pick it up for only $19.99 at your favorite bookstore.
