A TRIBUTE TO ERNIE IVES #3345-L
by Bob Goddard #5344-L and Ken Southall #2532
Readers will be saddened to hear of the death of U.K. member Ernie Ives. As many members will know, Ernie was a stalwart of both the IWCS and of the U.K. Marquetry Society for which he was the Editor of its magazine, “The Marquetarian” for well over 25 years.
Ernie’s expertise in the field of wood microtomy and for the production of high quality section slides was known throughout the world and those who knew him would always be impressed for his relentless quest to find the most successful techniques for preparing many of the difficult to section timbers prior to sectioning on his treasured microtome.
He was the author of “A Guide to Wood Microtomy” and produced the excellent DVD “Wood Microtomy” and the booklet “Marquetry for Beginners”.
He also wrote a complete book on marquetry which although never published, had many parts printed in The Marquetarian, often in response to reader’s questions. A number of Ernie’s articles have been published over the years in “World of Wood”, the most recent being in Volume 66, Number 5 for September/October 2013.
For many years, Ernie was also Editor of “The Balsam Post”, the magazine of the Postal Microscopical Society.
His interests were many and varied and his microscopy expertise also extended to the production of micro slides of insects.
Being a highly skilled craftsman he won the Marquetry Society’s “Rose Bowl” for best in show, as far back as 1976. Equally adept at knifecutting and fret-sawing he was a keen advocate of the latter and actively encouraged its use by his groups of juniors at the Sproughton Marquetry Group in his home village near Ipswich in the east of England. The photo below shows Ernie with his Junior Class.
With his untimely death we have lost a wealth of knowledge and experience, and one of our top marquetarians and microtomists.
Our thoughts are with his family at this sad time.