My love affair with the tilted tiger stripe all began with Diva Soap‘s Savanna. Ironically, Maja was avoiding a tilted tiger, so with her usual panache, she came up with something all her own – a cross between a modified tiger and a zebra swirl.
I had never tried the modified tiger stripe before, but the tilting action Maja described in her comments section intrigued me. After my first try, I was hooked! October’s Soap Challenge Club, featuring a similar technique – the Dandelion Zebra Swirl – provided a temporary interruption and a good comparison. I felt that the results of both techniques were very close (click here to see if you can tell the difference). I seem to have better luck with the tilted tiger and I find that it is less messy to work with.
I used Black Raspberry and Vanilla for my first tilted tiger stripe. It was also my first time to use BRV. I lucked out because it was so well-behaved. It smells like grape and cassis, but I can’t pick up the vanilla, so I’m renaming it Black Currant.
Black Currant
I love the way the stripes and the purple came out! It was my first successful purple after many failed attempts. I would probably still be stuck in my color rut (here and here) if it weren’t for Amy Warden’s post, Coloring Your Cold Process Soap.
Still scented with BRV, here is a variation I made by swirling the stripes with a chopstick:
And another BRV, with tilted pink stripes and normal purple tiger stripes:
Giving BRV a rest, I made a tiger-looking soap scented with Orange Chili Pepper:
Next, I wanted to try out Cucumber Wasabi. Just like BRV and Orange Chili Pepper, it behaved perfectly. I love green scents but this one smells too much like a vegetable. It makes me a bit sad that this beauty smells weird – not bad, just weird – and has pimples! I think though that it would work well in a blend.
I went ahead and blended Cucumber Wasabi with some Orange Chili Pepper. It smells better, but I should cut down further on the Cucumber Wasabi. I tried to do what Maja did – tilt, pour some of the base soap followed by alternating half of the colored batter, turn around the mold, tilt again, then finish pouring alternately the rest of the soap batter.
I have moved on from my tilted tiger stripe addiction but I know I will be back for more. Is there a technique you are addicted to? 🙂
SoapJam 
Wow these are beautiful! Another must try for me. I haven’t yet mastered a technique to become addicted to, but I think I need to just try try try again when things don’t come out as planned. Beautiful inspiration here, thank you.
Thank you, Stacie! There is no substitute for experience, so trying and trying is really important, but may I add, as long as you’re having fun!
🙂
They are very pretty
Thank you, Darlene! 🙂
I also could say you got hooked on purples and greens!
Thanks for the shout out, dear, I’m flattered with your mentioning me.
And now, how many striped soaps do you have in total?
They are all gorgeous and I can say two things: I like your skewer swirling idea and I like how you do this technique. Meaning- dandelion swirled soaps usually have that ‘cut-off’ look, like the swirl was inserted/embedded into the soap, but your swirls look so well incorporated into the rest of soap. Especially with those delicate, tiny lines that run from the swirled part to the edges. Look at this beauty in ‘Cucumber Wasabi’ (both, straight and blended version) and skewer swirled BRV. You know what I mean?
You’re very observant, Maja. You’re absolutely right on the purple and green. 🙂
I think I have seven or eight of the tiger and dandelion zebra stripes combined. In case you’re wondering what i do with all those soaps, i need a lot for this Christmas so this has given me a chance to try different designs and scents.
I know what you mean about the cut-off look using the dandelion zebra technique. I also prefer the more fluid results of the tilted tiger, but just as important is that it is easier to do and one less item to wash! 🙂
What beauties!
Thank you! 🙂
They are all so beautiful! You have really mastered that technique! 🙂
Thank you, Cee. I don’t know about the mastering part. I may have created something pretty one day, but the next one may not turn out so well. I guess that’s part of the excitement with soapmaking. 🙂
All fab but oh those Cucumber Wasabi soaps are lovely lovely lovely!
Thank you, Vicki! I also love the way the Cucumber Wasabi looks, but I’m so bummed it does not smell as great as it looks!
Wow. I need to check out Diva’s post because these are seriously some of the most gorgeous soaps EVER. I wasn’t enamored by the basic tiger stripe technique but these have me wanting to try it out again. I especially love the tiger stripe swirled with chopsticks.
Thank you for the generous compliment, Amy! I’ve tried making the basic tiger stripe around 3 times but I was never that satisfied with my results. For the swirled tiger stripe, I make the swirls before I finish pouring the rest of the batter. I took inspiration from a video by Vinvela Ebony in her blog. The thing is I can’t find it anymore.
I am really impressed how all those soaps turned out! The colors and swirls are perfect. But I also like how arrange your soaps, I found that this fifth picture has really original set up! Congratulations Silvia!
Thank you, Gordana! There are days when arranging the soaps come easily, and days when I have a hard time so I just stick to the usual positions. 🙂
Gorgeous soaps, Silvia! I tried the tilted tiger stripe a few weeks ago, and I’m working on getting a blog post up about it soon. It’s a really fun method! I like the idea of using a skewer to make an additional swirl, and tilting the mold two different ways is a great suggestion, too.
Thank you, Jenny! Looking forward to your post on your tilted tiger soap! 🙂
Wow! They all look lovely to me. I didn’t experiment yet with zebra stripes, but looking at your soaps it all looks so easy and I bet I would fail miserably. XD
Hi Ksenija! When I made my first tilted tiger, I thought it was a flop. Silly me, I was having a really hard and awkward time because I was pouring from the “wrong” side. Luckily, I immediately realized my mistake and switched to the “correct” side which made more sense because it was easier to pour from that angle. Imagine my surprise when I cut the soap and it came out pretty! I hope you give it a try! It looks fancier than it actually is, and best of all, it is a really fun technique!
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