It’s still hard to believe that my new book, Pure Soapmaking, is finally here. The book has been such a labor of love for more than two years; to finally hold it in my hands is incredibly exciting. Even more exciting is seeing other soapers with the book! It’s been an affirmation (and, a relief!) to hear all the positive feedback. Thank you all so much for the support. =)
Now that the book has been out for several weeks, I have begun to reflect on the process of creating the book. If you’ve ever thought about writing a book, let me tell you…it’s a lot of work. Fun? Absolutely. It’s a fun and rewarding gift to share your passion and knowledge with others. But, creating a book requires an insane amount of time and resources. I was lucky to have access to both during the writing process. My Bramble Berry team and family helped me find time to work on the book. They also were invaluable in assisting me with recipes and other aspects of the testing process. It takes a village to create, photograph & lay-out 32, fully-tested, cold process projects!
The first step in writing this book was creating a book proposal for the publishing company, Storey Publishing. This is essentially an overview of what information the book will contain. Below, you can see a few pages of the original 2013 proposal, including the cover page and an overview of some of the chapters. After sending in the proposal to the editors, we began to work on the framework of the book and what information it should contain. A lot of the proposed topics made it into the book, while some did not. This is another reason why having input during the writing process is important. Talking about these topics and how they should be organized with soapers and non-soapers helped to lay out the book in the most cohesive way.
Then I got to work for three straight months writing the bulk of the manuscript. After the manuscript was finished, I worked with my team or alone to design the recipes and start the slow process of perfecting them. Once that’s done, I submitted the manuscript to Storey and they edited it. This process involved a lot of back and forth, going over each and every step and detail to make sure directions and information were clear. It’s both a blessing and curse to have non-soapers proofreading recipes and soap information. A lot of things needed clarification. But it was good to get an outside perspective on things that may seem common knowledge to me or my team. Below are some of the edits from Storey publishing on the left, and my answers on the right. There were reams of these notes back and forth.
Writing and editing each and every recipe and step was a very intense and long process.
While that’s happening, I started to send the team at Storey finished soaps so they could look at them and give them the thumbs up or the thumbs down. They said things like: “that’s too busy; remove the ball on the top of the soap.” The art director had a very specific look and feel that she wanted for the book and anything that didn’t match her aesthetic, she kicked back to us with directions on how to change it. There were many emails and phone calls to come up with a grouping of soaps that the art director was pleased with.
I try really hard not to read reviews, but the last book, Soap Crafting, had a couple poor reviews because soapers had problems with the recipes. This time, I was determined to not have any recipe or instruction related difficulties happen. So for this book, I had four brand new soapers take only the recipes (no photos) to create the soap. Then, I compared their soaps with my soaps. Did they look the same? Did the soap turn out? This process was extremely valuable. I discovered some steps that needed to be clarified, and discovered which photos were crucial for each project.
One thing that was important in this book was recognizing that many soapers are going palm-free due to concerns about deforestation of sensitive orangutan habitat. Click here to read Bramble Berry’s thoughts on palm oil. More than 50% of the recipes in this book are palm-free. The reason that soapers use palm oil in soap is because it adds to the bar hardness, how long it lasts in the shower and acts as a secondary lathering agent – meaning it helps the large, fluffy lather of a bar of soap. Replacing palm oil is most commonly done with tallow, or animal fat. Many people that want natural and organic products also are vegan, meaning they don’t use any animal products. So, it wasn’t going to be as easy as replacing palm oil with tallow in all the recipes.
Over 50% of the recipes in Pure Soapmaking are palm free, including these White Tea Faux Funnel Pour Bars.
So, we set about researching the chemical components inside palm oil. The reason that palm oil is hard is because of its high stearin or stearic fatty acid profile. I looked at all of the different fatty acid profiles of all the oils and started mixing and matching until I was able to replace over 50% of the palm in the entire book and come up with bars that are hard, last a long time in the shower and lather well. We also tried some insider soaping ideas like adding salt water during formulation to add to bar hardness. Is the lather as perfectly fluffy and large as palm oil soaps? It’s pretty darn close. I’m proud of this achievement and know that it represents the first book of its kind on the marketplace to highlight palm free soaps.
The book photoshoot was an intense couple days. Each day consisted of about 7-8 recipes, and required clean up and setup between each recipe.
After the recipes were perfected and the manuscript was close to done, we needed to photograph each and every recipe. As you can imagine, making 32 recipes in a five-day period and photographing them, cleaning up, and hoping that the recipes turn out perfectly the first time is quite a feat! Organizing all the oils, premixing all of the colorants and making sure that each and every recipe had back up oils fell to the shoulders of my super hard-working assistant Caitlin. To pull off the shoot took weeks of prep that fell on her, and I am so thankful for her organization.
After the five days of shooting, all 32 recipes were created, photographed and even cut!
The photo shoot went smoothly, and there were only one or two soapy mishaps. Again, I’m so grateful for my team who came in on weekends to help set up in between each recipe, clean all the dishes and stay diligent and organized throughout an extremely tight schedule. I’m also thankful we could work with the same photographer as Soap Crafting, Lara Ferroni. In addition to being extremely talented, Lara has a calm and easy going personality which contributed to the success of the shoot. After the five days, we had created each and every recipe, perfectly, on camera…phew!
After the photo shoot came the final round of editing the manuscript (shown above). The editing process is always fraught with anxiety and issues. Like the last book, we worked with multiple editors – some who worked on just grammar and spelling, others that worked on flow and others that worked on continuity. Having so many eyes on the book helped eliminate errors. It’s amazing what you miss when you are proofreading your own writing. After a few more round of edits, the book was finally complete.
It’s exciting that all the hard work has paid off and that so many soapers are getting the book and learning a new hobby, expanding their techniques, or even starting a business. I’d like to acknowledge my family at home and Bramble Berry team that had so much to do with the creation of this book. Yes, my name is on the cover and that is exciting and an honor, but it took the entire team at home and at work to see this book into fruition. Thank you to my team and my family. I also want to thank the soaping community and the readers of this blog! I’m constantly inspired by the amazing talent, dedication and passion of the soapmaking community and feel so honored to be part of it.
If you received your book, post a selfie with it on Instagram or Twitter and use the hashtag #PureSoapMaking for a chance to win one of ten $25 Bramble Berry gift certificates. Today is the last day to enter! I can’t wait to see all your lovely faces with the book. I have been loving all the entries so far. =)
HI! I am a brand new soaper and literally know nothing except what I’ve watched and read on line. I bought your book because I liked the spiral bound format. Now I’m collecting the supplies and ingredients for your Buttermilk Honeycombs. I’m confused about the powder sifter. From the picture on Brambleberry.com it looks like what I would use for face powder but the recipe instructions indicate that it’s supposed to strain the silk fibers from the lye solution. Instead should I be getting the powder duster?
Yes, you do want to use the powder duster for that recipe. Sorry for the confusion. The Powder Duster will help strain those fibers out: https://www.brambleberry.com/Powder-Duster-P5427.aspx
hello queen i really love and appreciate your videos God bless you..please am intrested in buying your book everything soap making, i dont know where to get it, please can you send the address to me …thank you
We sell it on BrambleBerry.com! You can find it here: https://www.brambleberry.com/The-Everything-Soapmaking-3rd-Edition-1-Book-P4400.aspx
You can also find it on Amazon or another online book retailer. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Love the book! I made “Cow Milk In-The-Pot Swirl” and it came out beautiful. Looks like the picture in the book. I’m very happy with it. It’s super creamy too.
Is there was a place to chat about the book with other soapers? A blog or something? I’m new to soaping and I’d love to hear their ideas and comments as well as to ask questions if I have them.
Thanks,
Hi Nitza!
So glad you love the book! Thanks for saying so. 🙂
You may like teachsoap.com/forum. The soapers on there talk about everything from selling to experimenting with new recipe ingredients. That would be a great place to share ideas!
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I appreciate you telling me about the chat site. I just checked it out. Great site. Thanks!
You’re welcome! 🙂
Is there a soap inspired by Savond de Marseille or Aleppo soap in this book?
Thank you
Christina
Hi Christina!
There sure is! There’s a recipe called the 100% Castile Brine Stamped Cube Bars. They’re inspired by Savon de Marseille soap and are stamped with this stamp: https://www.brambleberry.com/Savon-Soap-Stamp-P5893.aspx
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I got my book!!! Someone tried to read it before I did. They didn’t get very far! As they say in France ‘je suis vachement super content!’ Which loosely translated means holy cow am I super contented! 🙂
Thankyou so much for your hard work and for sharing your wealth of knowledge with the world. I think I am going to try out the aloe-vera soap recipe next week. I checked out youtube and saw Zahida’s version – and in addition to the soap in the book, I am a little intimidated by the gorgousness of your finished product. But I am going to give it a whirl. 🙂 To paraphrase Meryl Streep on that movie Julie Julia ‘don’t worry if you make a mistake, you can put it back together and since you are in the kitchen …no one will ever know!’
Thanks again.
Ooooh, keep me posted on how it goes Nadeen. I LOVE love love love that aloe-vera soap recipe. It’s definitely a favorite of mine from the book. Zahida has an incredible version, doesn’t she? It is SUCH an honor to see what other soapers do with the book and the projects. Thank you for buying it and thank you for supporting me. =)
~~~~~ I got it ♫ ♪ I got it ♫ ♫….the book arrived today!!!!…Love it !!!
Yay; I’m so excited that you got it. I can’t wait to hear what you think about it when you start reading it and, what the first recipe you tackle will be =) Post a photo on FB, Instagram or Twitter and tag me so I can see it. =)
So much hard work went into your book and it makes me appreciate Pure Soapmaking even more after reading this. Thank you for being an inspiration to many of us soapers and for offering the best soap making ingredients out there as well as excellent customer service! <3
Thank you! Yes, it was a lot of hard work but now that the book is out, it was all worth it. I am totally in-love with how the book came out. =) Thank you for buying it and for being a Soap Queen reader and a Bramble Berry customer. I appreciate the support.
The book is really wonderful, one of the best and favorite of the ones I own. I’ve never made the palm free recipes but am going to give that a try. The process is indeed interesting – and taxing! I don’t know if I would have the patience and thick skin for it 🙂 Kudos to A-M and BB for sure, the quality of this book is just an extension of the quality of Bramble Berry. I’m hoping to hit Otion this summer (up from Portland)!!
Thank you so much! And yes, please visit Otion. It’s like a magical fairytale wonderland for soapers. Smelling all those fragrances in one place? Heaven! =)
I’ve always wanted an Otion Portland. Maybe this is the year to finally branch out and do that… hm … =)
Thank you for your enthusiasm for the book. I’m so glad you like it.
OMG you totally need to put something in Portand – and let me work there!! ha ha. Really – it would be so nice to have some local resources where you can walk in and buy stuff.
You got me thinking! =) What neighborhoods do you think are the best for an Otion Portland?
Personally I think there would be great options in NE Portland. There are lots of great areas for a storefront, its in the quadrant of the city where the airport and the major highways all go through, and right across the border from Washington. Lots of public transit access, etc. And there is no competition!
Thank you for that thought. We’re talking about it all internally right now and how it might / could work. There are some logistic hurdles to cross over first but you’ve got us talking. Thank you for the suggestion, and, enthusiasm.
This was exciting! Thank you for sharing. NOW I’m looking forward to getting the book and reading it! LOL! Thank you for all your (and your team’s) hard work. Great job!
Thank you! =) My team was so important during this book writing process. Caitlin really helped keep all those details straight, especially for the shoot. I couldn’t have done it without them, nor would I have wanted to! =)
Wow, this is one of my favorite posts! Love reading detailed information about writing process and publishing. Thank you!!
You’re welcome Martina! Glad you enjoy the post. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Dear Anne-Marie!
Your article was very interesting to read and so I am looking foreward even more to the delivery of your new book.
Sorry for my bad english 🙁 and
best regards from Austria
LiSa
Thank you so much for being a reader of the Soap Queen blog and supporting me through your comments and buying my book. I appreciate it =)