Bio Page

A young Bill Thomas astride a Harley-Davidson

Welcome to  Rosebud Tattoo online. Since getting a tattoo is probably the most permanent and personal thing one can do, it might be best to know something about the person who you might be considering to do it.....so here goes.

I had an interest at a very young age, when I thought my Grandfather's tattoos were cool ! He rode a military Harley behind enemy lines in World War 1, and he had a Liberty Girl tattoo on his inner forearm with crossed flags (one American, one Portuguese), who he made "dance" when he clenched his fist !

Since tattooing was made illegal in MA. in 1961  (this has since been reversed), I never really pursued it and instead found a career in the food service industry. This enabled me to do a lot of traveling and pretty much finding work wherever I wanted to be.

The tattoo business in those days was a lot less popular and very secretive thus making it very difficult to break into. I spent years looking for an apprenticeship, contacting many of the big names in the biz at the time. Lyle Tuttle, Cliff Raven, Don Nolan, Ed Hardy, Doc Webb, Bob Shaw, all to no avail. Then, one day in the mid-seventies, I walked into "Picture Machine" in San Francisco...struck up a conversation with the owner, and before I knew it, I was apprenticing with one of the biggest names in the business, Pat Martynuik, who was LyleTuttle's right hand man for many years until opening his own shop. He also was one of the original "flash" (tattoo designs) businesses, selling designs to other artists, some of which are still hanging in shops today.

Unfortunately, Pat passed away some years ago, long before where the current mainstream market business has come to. I owe much to him and to Paul Rogers, legendary machine innovator, and all others who I've been fortunate enough to meet over the years.

Upon returning to the east coast in the early 80's. I worked at the "Imperial Dragon" Tattoo in Portsmouth, NH and then for Tattoo George when he bought the shop. This was still before the current boon on tattooing and I found that the tattoo business couldn't support me, so I went back to being a chef....until I decided to pursue a lifelong desire to "drive the big rigs" and went to trucking school in 1985. I got my CDL-A and drove a tractor-trailer for a commercial egg business in Maine until they were bought out in 1992 and I got laid off.

It was then I decided to open my own Tattoo studio, a one man operation, at my current location in Saco, ME. It is hard to believe that I'll be going on 14 years at my little corner of the tattoo world this summer. Time does fly when you're having a good time!

I would consider myself an "old school" tattooist and I believe my strongest asset is my honesty. In a business full of huge egos, and large amounts of b.s. on many topics, I can promise the truth every time, even if it costs me business,

My main focus is to do my best work each and every time, and have my customers walk out of my shop with an affordable tattoo that they can be proud to show off.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my site and the next time you're in the Sanford, ME area, stop by my shop for an "old school" tattoo.

Bill Thomas - Tattooist / Proprietor