ruth's biography
I have been tattooing since 1990 when I first got an apprenticeship at a studio in South Norwood,South London,where I worked for only 5 months.During this I learnt how to design custom tattoos,make needles,use the sterilizer and how to make a good cup of tea!
When I left, I created Eternal Tattoos,and started to work from my private studio which worked well for 5 years as I worked mainly on friends. Around this time I also made regular tattoo trips to Zeeland,in Holland. I would also tattoo at bike rallies which were always good for a laugh,being about the only sober person at the end of an evening, so always had lots of catching up to do!
In early 1996,Barry Louvaine offered me a guest spot at his studio in Garratt Lane, Earlsfield, South London. He had been offering me a job for a number of years after seeing various tattoos I had completed so I finally started there when I felt I was confident & able to tattoo the general public! Barry's studio was high pressure work as it purely a walk in studio where customers would wait sometimes for hours for their art! I continued to work there for two and a half years, during which I had an excellent time and I also learnt a great deal from Barry, including how to run a successful studio and how to deal with the extremely wide variety of customers we get through the doors! I have alot of respect for Barry,and miss him greatly- anybody who knew him should understand why.
We moved to Lyons Court, Dorking in 1998 and opened the Eternal Tattoos Studio. This studio started off as a walk-in studio but i rapidly got so busy that it nearly became an appointment only studio. We stayed at Lyons Court for 7 years before moving to Dorking High Street.
In July 2005, we relocated to 312 High Street, Dorking. This studio is located on 2 floors and complete privacy is available. We now have 3 artists, Robb, Stevie and myself.
I have tattooed at lots of different conventions including Dunstable, Belfast, Birmingham, Hammersmith Palais, Croydon, Millwall Den, Bristol, Poole, Colchester,Stavanger/Austria, Calgary/Canada, Breda/Holland, Llandudno/Wales , Ireland, Gran Canaria, and many more.
My thanks go to my gorgeous husband, beautiful daughter, and the cutest ever son. Thanks to those who have influenced me greatly over the years including Paul Booth, Jonathon Shaw, Bugs, Ronald Bonkerk, Filip Leu, Bernie Luther, Bob Tyrell, Deano Cook. Also,a big thanks goes out to all my loyal customers who keep coming back over the years-cheers!
