The inspiration for this pattern came from a skirt in my closet. The striking black and white pattern reminded me of a pride of phoenixes ready for flight. Taking pen to paper to deconstruct the pattern, I came up with this simple grid-based tangle.

It is called Lissa in homage to the brand of the skirt, Melissa McCarthy Seven7. It so happens that one of my friends is also named Melissa and her niece calls her "Lissa," which I've always thought was so unique and special. And this pattern, Lissa, is pretty unique and special, too! There are so many opportunities to play with it! Put it on a wonky grid, in a circle, take it off the grid, reverse the shapes, make it long and skinny or fat and round, change the position of the top "reaches" ... and the list goes on. Have fun with this one!

Yay! Birthday tangling 2022 involved a new combo pattern I came up with after watching a documentary on Pompeii. Some of the mosaics and stone carvings they featured had a fascinating scrollwork that captivated me. As I played with the scrolling patterns, this is what happened.

When it came time to name this pattern, I decided on Yay because the finished result looks like someone jumping for joy, throwing out their arms in complete happiness as their feet leave the ground.

Yay presents a lot of options for the tangler as you can use it in a fragment, in a line, in a circle, in a grid, solo, etc. It's a whirlwind of joy -- YAY!

At its core, this pattern a mash-up of two patterns, Bales and Cubine, in a fragment. It's so much fun to draw because it has so many possibilities! Straight grid, wonky grid, spacey grid, line weights, striping, auras, tipples, additional patterns inside the Bales or the Cubine, and the list goes on.

This was still an unnamed fragment when I first taught it in a class on my birthday in 2021. Thus this is simply -- and maybe unoriginally -- the Birthday Fragment. Think of it as a birthday present from me to you every time you use it.

Double J's was developed after looking at many traditional Batik patterns. When attempting to deconstruct the image, I found myself starting with the J shape and then building out from there. (J for Jessica, naturally!)

As with most of my favorite patterns, there are MANY ways to play with this: grids, lines, filled, solo, in groups, circles, medallion-esque ... the list goes on!

Double J's was the focus for my Pink Friday tangling class in November 2021. Search the pattern name on the Salted Pink FB page for examples from the class. Feel free to share yours, too!