An unusual canvas

Author: Tamara Hilmes

It is Valentine's Day and couples all over the world are looking for ways to express their love for one another. Some choose flowers, others candy, but some opt for matching tattoos. "Bald Bill" Henshaw, the owner of Yankee Tattoo at 198 Pearl Street in Burlington, says people come in all the time to get tattoos with their loved ones.

"Sure, people come in for that all the time," said Henshaw. "A lot of people think it's bad luck, but I say that's crap." Henshaw, an award-winning tattoo artist and member of the National Tattoo Association since 1984, has many tattoos as one might expect, considering his trade, but only the name of one lady appears permanently inked onto his skin - "Mom."

"Almost everybody who has tattoos has at least one dedicated to their loved ones," Henshaw said. "I never did get one except 'Mom.' I was going to get my daughter's name at one point, but I never ended up doing it."

Henshaw does not look like the average business owner on the surface. The 55-year-old artist has a completely bald head, a long grey beard, and - oh yeah, tattoos snaking up both of his arms.

"When I was 30 years old," began Henshaw, "I had a bald spot and people thought I was 40. This is also when I began my job at the phone company as a staff artist, and because I was working with people, I finally shaved off my long hair and have never gone back. Since then, it has become very well known - it's my trademark. If you were to walk into any tattoo shop across the country and ask about Bald Bill, they would say, 'oh yeah, I know Bald Bill.'"

Henshaw is known throughout the nation for more than just his bald head, given the Burlington-based tattoo artist's participation in over 150 tattoo conventions in 25 different states as well as in Canada and Puerto Rico. Henshaw gained renown in the tattoo world well before he decided to settle down in Vermont to start his own parlor.

"After I quit my job at the phone company," said Henshaw, "I went on the road and followed the tattoo circuits. There used to be only one to two a year, but now they have one every weekend."

At these conventions, Henshaw learned the art of professional tattooing by watching "the masters" and attending various seminars. It was here at these conventions that he learned the sterilization procedures that are vital in the success of a professional tattoo artist.

"Sterilization and procedures to prevent cross-contamination are the first thing a tattoo artist needs to know," said Henshaw. "I'm working with blood every day, and it's extremely important to keep both myself and my customers safe. I've tattooed FBI agents and professional con men. I've tattooed millionaires and homeless people as well as doctors, lawyers and nurses. I even have a reputation with the nurses for being even cleaner than some of them with my procedures."

After attending convention after convention and attaining his license in three different states, Henshaw began to look to settle down and start his own business. In 1996, when the state of Vermont legalized tattooing, Henshaw decided the time was right, and Yankee Tattoo was soon up and running in its current location on Pearl Street, in the heart of downtown Burlington.

"I decided on Vermont because there weren't really any professional tattoo artists in the area at the time," said Henshaw. "Most were just working off their kitchen tables. I could have started up in Philadelphia, but you don't open a tattoo parlor where one has been in business already for 30 years unless you want to get both of your arms broken." Henshaw admitted that competition in Vermont has increased since 1996, but with Yankee Tattoo in business for 11 years in the same location, Henshaw is not worried about upstarts.

"We can handle a little bit of competition," Henshaw said. "We're going on 12 years now, and I have two guys who have been working for me for 10 years, which is unusual for this industry. At least one shop comes and goes every year. People think it's really easy, but really, it's not that easy. Just because you are educated doesn't mean that you can tattoo."

The art of tattooing, as Henshaw explained, is really quite technical. Henshaw uses reciprocating tattoo machines, with needles that go in and out at a rate of 1,000-3,000 times a minute. The needles are essentially groups of pens that act as miniature bilge pumps. The tube and needle are dipped in ink, and the ink-covered needle is then inserted into the skin, where the ink is absorbed according to the design that has either been stenciled or drawn on by hand.

"When I worked at the phone company," said Henshaw, "and people found out that I also tattooed, they would say, 'oh, you're a tattoo artist.' But in actuality, tattooing is a lot harder than being a commercial artist. We don't create on canvas, or on paper or on wood. We work on a pliable surface that moves - we work on skin."

"A lot of times we are unable to use a stencil due to the curvature of the body," explained Henshaw, "so in these cases, we freehand it right on to the skin. We also do a lot of custom work, so often we don't even have a stencil."

Along with "old school" designs that have been around for decades, like eagles, nautical images and the classic "cabbage rose" that were favored by the American servicemen who kept the art of tattooing alive, according to Henshaw, Yankee Tattoo also offers its customers custom designs, as well as designs by other tattoo artists that Henshaw himself purchases while attending conventions. Several of Henshaw's custom designs have been featured in a variety of tattoo artistry magazines and coffee table books such as one featuring Bike Week at Daytona Beach from 1993, and on the cover of Body Art as well as inside the magazine for a design entitled "Phoenix Rising." This creation, which took 80 hours to complete, was dedicated to the 10-year-old daughter of the woman whose back he created it on. The girl was killed in an arson fire.

The technicolor design depicted birds, flowers and other wildlife, which is actually Henshaw's specialty. In fact, his own left leg is covered in tiny brightly colored fish that were featured on the Travel Channel back in 2002, when 35 women tattooed the fish on Henshaw in eight hours in an attempt to break a record.

"People are always saying to me," said Henshaw, "'didn't I see you on the Travel Channel? Aren't you the guy with all the fish?' and I answer that 'yes, that's me alright.'" Henshaw went on to explain that most of his own tattoos are related to water.

"Everywhere I travel to I try to get a little fishing in," said Henshaw, who happens to be a Pisces.

Henshaw will be attending the National Tattoo Association's annual convention in Reno later this year where he plans to meet up with one of his old friends, Lyle Tuttle, one of "the greats," famous for tattooing the likes of Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead.