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 home which worked well for 5 years working 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 Dorking in 1998 and opened the Official Eternal Tattoos. This new venture made me tattoo at various conventions over the years including Dunstable, Belfast, Ireland, Birmingham, Hammersmith Palais, Croydon, Millwall Den, Bristol, Poole and more. We built up a loyal following of customers during the 7 years that we were located in Lyons Court.
In July 2005, we relocated to 312 High Street, Dorking.The studio is on 2 levels with our private piercing area and retail shop upstairs and a large air conditioned tattoo area downstairs.
I was voted one of the 100 Favorite Tattoo Artists in the world in Skin Deep in 2005 which was an excellent achievement for me especially as I have taken time out over the previous 3 years to look after my gorgeous daughter Lulu .
We had a 7 page feature about us in April 2006 'Skin Deep' magazine (out 9th March 2006). We are now out and about again tattooing at conventions.- this year we have tattooed at Hamburg- Germany,Derby, Calgary-Canada, & Colchester.
I won my 3rd Award at the Colchester Tattoo Convention in September 2006 for 'Best Portait'.
My thanks go to my gorgeous husband and beautiful daughter, both of whom I cannot live without. Also to those who have remained loyal to me no matter what, like Kafi, Mick, Dick, Lexi, and to those who have influenced me greatly over the years including Paul Booth, Jonathon Shaw, Bugs, Ronald Bonkerk, Filip Leu, Bernie Luther, and those who also turn out to be really cool too, like Bob Tyrell & Deano Cook.Also,a big thanks goes out to all my loyal customers who keep coming back over the years-cheers!
