I’ve had a lot of fun recently on a project for brand new startup, Tiree Tea. It’s the brainchild of Rhoda Meek, who runs a working croft on the Hebridean island of Tiree from the home that her great-great-grandfather built. Once upon a time, when she was a wee girl and I was a wee girl, our dads worked together as Celtic scholars. So it’s lovely that I am working together with her all these years later!
Rhoda’s idea is to blend a range of teas to reflect the character of the island, with more than a little of her cheeky crofter’s humour thrown into the labels. She came to me for help with the logo and packaging. After a whole lot of scribbled teapots, teaspoons, and tea plants, I thought: let’s make this properly local, and I asked her for a picture of her house (which she also runs as a holiday let: guess how I’ve asked to be paid!).
She liked my scribbly style so we decided to keep things jaunty, and as she has such an authentic, honest brand, I wanted to put in the extra work to turn it into a proper, hand-cut linocut print before scanning for digital use. So I printed off my design and transferred it to lino.
Then came time to cut! I used an offcut of lino from the drawer and left the top part attached for something to keep a hold of while cutting. The plan was to digitally remove the borders but it’s handy to keep them while printing to keep everything in place. It didn’t take long to cut the design and I made an effort to resist the temptation to “neaten” things up!
Once cut, I inked the lino up to print, but soon realised that the wonky border was a nice feature of the design so I chopped the top off with a pair of carpet scissors to complete the look. Cough. Meticulously planned and focus-grouped, yes it was.
I hung the finished print up to dry and the next day it was ready to scan and brighten to pure black and white. And so, Tiree Tea has its very own handcut logo, with and without wonky border!
Rhoda is starting out with two blends: Crofter, a fine breakfast tea to get you going for a day’s work on your tractor, and Tilley, a refreshing mint and nettle infusion inspired by the brisk Tiree wind and the island’s favourite community turbine, Tilley. I had great source material for the packaging of these: the croft’s very own 1947 Fergie tractor, and of course, Tilley the windmill. These are going to be popular so don’t delay if you want to get your hands on some before Rhoda sells out!
