Ymaginary Studios
Ymaginary Studios
The Clyr Ink Press website was originally designed to profile cognitive linguistic ymage research and its many applications (accompanied by tutorials and editorials), as well as to make ourselves readily available to provide professional consultation and community support. Over the course of several years, I added creative projects related to my personal pursuits.
One day, I came up with a very short piece of music that really wanted to be a fanfare; so, in order for that to be proper, I needed a media studio for it to proclaim, which of course required an ABN, website, logo, and a tailored typeface… so I created those things.
And now that the studio exists, I shall have to set about making some movies and so forth, and also polish up the works that have been perpetually in progress.
So, while Clyr Ink Press continues to hold the research and the writing projects, including the apps, Ymaginary Studies will cover everything else.
Mary McCarthy characterized the relationship holding between life and literature as follows, “What I really do is take real plums and put them in an imaginary cake”; however, her sharply satirical fiction disguised factual people rather thinly, leaving them feeling wounded. “If you’re interested in the cake, you get rather annoyed with people saying what species the real plums were.” She said that in later years she didn’t want to hurt people, but she just couldn’t help herself, so she hoped instead that they would forgive her.
I really like the plum cake metaphor, but not the callous disregard for people’s feelings.
Sifton, E. (1962). Mary McCarthy, the art of fiction. The Paris Review, 27(Winter-Spring), ##.
“You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.”
– Robin McLaurin Williams
What Mr. Williams originally said was, “You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it. Cause you’re only given a little spark of madness, and if you lose that, you’re nothing. Note, from me to you.: don’t ever lose that cause it keeps you alive” (On Location: Robin Williams - Off the Wall, HBO, October 27, 1978).
Three months later, that passage was misquoted in Cue as, “You’re only given a little apark of madness – you mustn’t lose that madness” (Feb 16, 1979, p. 18).
So far, there is no way to pin down when the quote reached its current form.
A parent sent me this Pinterest pic. (I have blurred the face more.) I tracked it to MayWeHelp, but they were shutting down, so I just built one.
The student’s face is Mona-ed for privacy.
• I only have basic sewing machine skills, so I bought mop pads as they were soft and already hemmed. The grommets were placed with a GoldStart tool.
• The eyebolt was inserted through the cap, bolted, and then glued in place. The lower end of the pipe has a wide PVC adapter so that it rests firmly over a bolt on the wheelchair frame. The pipe is bent (by main strength) to hang over the chair. You can see that a spring clamp holds the middle of the pipe in place below the headrest.
• A threaded chain quick link connects the eyebolt to a pulley.
• Each end of the ⅛” elastic cord goes to a CamJam® cord tightener.
All manner of personal pursuits combine with the professional roles and services described over at Clyr Ink Press, and some of those are reflected in the various projects displayed below… basically just for fun.
Projects related to writing and publishing are linked over to Clyr Ink Press.
Any sort of drawing and coloring projects will in this section.
Costumes are puppets operated from the inside.
I like to splice stuff together for fun (but the end product is often left only roughly finished once I have amused myself).
These are various sound files.
Furniture and Substantial Items
The notion of ‘furniture’ is used loosely. Big, tangible stuff will tend to go here.
“It is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception, and compassion, and hope.”
– Ursula Kroeber Le Guin
These are all places into which I find it inspiring to occasionally extend my sense of Self.
These studios are the homes of amazing creatives.
These materials are ingredients, replicate masses. and other components.
These are specialty vendors.
While there is value in being able to adapt whatever you happen to have on hand, there is also a whole lot to be said for having just the right tool for a task.
<>I’m not sure what I want to say here yet.
“I take real plums and put them in an imaginary cake.”
– Mary McCarthy
Niebuhr, E. (1962). Mary McCarthy: the art of fiction XXVII, The Paris Review, 27(Winter-Spring), p. 58-94. The original, full quote is,, “What I really do is take real plums and put them in an imaginary cake” (p. 67).
The interviewer, Elisabeth Sifton, is the daughter of Reinhold Niebuhr, the currently attributed author of the Serenity Prayer. where some researchers suggest that he might have based it on the writing of one of his students, Winnifred Wygal.
