Hello Kin,

I’ve never taken a formal class in soap making, candle pouring, or product formulation. I’ve just… figured it out as I’ve gone.

Through books stacked on my counter, late nights in the studio, a lot of trial and error, and more YouTube videos than I could ever count. This craft, and this business, came together slowly — piece by piece, batch by batch.

And these books have quietly been there through all of it.

What’s on my shelf

These are the ones I keep close. The ones I’ve returned to while learning, building, and figuring things out as I go.

If you’re curious about any of them, I always recommend sourcing through local bookstores, libraries, or directly from publishers when you can.

• Crystals — Sadie Kadlec
  A curiosity-led read I’ve simply enjoyed having on hand.
  

• Aromatherapy for Vibrant Health & Beauty — Roberta Wilson
  A helpful guide while learning how scent and formulation come together.
  

• Botanical Skin Care Recipe Book — Kim Walker
  Early inspiration while experimenting and learning through doing.
  

• Foraging with Kids — Adele Nozedar
  A reminder that learning can be shared, simple, and close to home.
  

• A Handbook of Native American Herbs — Alma R. Hutchens
  A traditional reference that helped shape my understanding of plant use.
  

• Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs — Scott Cunningham
  A foundational herbal reference with over 400 plants and their traditional uses.
  

• Essential Well Being — Sara Panton
  A modern, grounded guide to using essential oils in everyday rituals.
  

• Energetic Herbalism — Kat Maier
  A deeper look at how plants work energetically with the body and environment.
  

• Moon Bath — Dakota Hills & Sierra Brashear
  Ritual-based bathing practices rooted in rest, rhythm, and intention.
  

• Wild Medicine — Julie Bruton-Seal & Matthew Seal
  A practical, visual guide to wild plants and their traditional uses.
  

• The Boreal Herbal — Beverley Gray
  A Canadian guide to wild food and medicine plants of the North
  

• Pure Soap Making - Anne Marie Faiola
  This one forever changed how I made soap.

Why this matters

I didn’t grow up knowing how to do any of this. There wasn’t a roadmap or any kind of formal training, and no one handed me a system and said “this is how it’s done.” It really just started with curiosity, and a willingness to try something, mess it up, try again, and keep going.

Over time, these books helped me understand what I was actually working with — the ingredients, the plants, how scent comes together — but more than anything, they helped me learn to trust my own hands. They gave me a foundation, yes, but they also gave me the confidence to keep building, even when I wasn’t totally sure where it was all going.

The (very) messy middle

There’s a part of building something that doesn’t get talked about much, and it’s not the beginning, and it’s not the moment where everything feels “made.” It’s everything in between.

It’s where things are kind of working, but you’re still figuring so much out as you go. You’re learning while doing, adjusting constantly, rethinking things, and slowly shaping what this is all becoming without fully seeing the end yet.

That’s where most of this business has been built. And honestly, these books have been something I’ve come back to again and again through that. They’ve helped keep me grounded while everything else was still shifting.

If you’re in your own build

If you’re somewhere in that space right now, you don’t need to have it all figured out. You don’t need the perfect setup or the perfect timing to begin. You just need to start, learn what you can, stay curious, and keep going.

That’s really all I did, and over time, somehow, it turned into this.

A quiet invitation

If you’re curious what all of that slowly turned into — the blends, the soaps, the candles, and the small, everyday rituals that came from all of those late nights and learning curves — you can explore it here:

you can explore it here:

→ Shop The Hobbyist

With care from the coast,
Tam