300 Handcrafted Soaps

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Nice pictures shame about the tuition - Rated
Bought this book some months ago thinking it could help me be more creative in soap making, yes there are pictures of some 300 soaps, but only the tiniest bit at the front of the book that explains how to make each type of soap. I could not really learn from this book techniques like swirling, embeds, layering, curling, or any other basic technique - to me this really is a showcase of her soaps with little exlanation on how to duplicate methods. I would find another book if you are looking for any form of instruction, however if you are happy just to copy recipes and you are already competant in soap making, this book may be of some interest to you.

Newbie....not - Rated
beautifully illustrated. One for the book-shelf. I spent ages going through this book. Alas as a newbie, I was out of my depth. I really wish that Marie Browning had divided this book into two if need be by giving us 150 clear and easy to understand recipes instead. Suffice to say that going backwards to her Designer Techniques which is at the start of the book and forwards to the receipes left a newbie like me a little confused. This is not to take away from Marie the sheer pleasure of her illustrations and hard work. Perfect for the more experienced soaper. Newbies should start with melt & mold soap crafting by K Westerman. It has given me the confidence to now try some of Marie's projects.

Some diamonds in the rough - Rated
I sought this book out because of the stunning soap designs on the front cover, but when I got to read it I was disappointed to find that these few fantastic soaps were in the minority overall. The book is laid out with a techniques section in the front describing the different techniques used to make the soaps (embedding, painting, carving, layering etc) with the numbered recipes listed in a section making up the remainder of the book. I was surprised to see that not all of the techniques had pictures, although they did all reference a recipe later in the book that used the technique.

The recipe section included a great many photographs of finished soaps, but the details on how to reproduce them should really have been expanded. This book might have been better had it concentrated on describing 100 soaps in more detail, or even 300 soaps in detail in an expanded version of the book. Overall I would regard this book as a source of inspiration for more experienced melt and pour soapmakers looking to expand their repertoire, but I would not recommend it to beginners looking for a step-by-step guide.