Come Friend: Winter Witch and Cauldron T-Shirt

roduct description:

The snow is deep, the candles are lit, and something green and bubbling is nearly ready. This old witch has seen you through the frost. With one gnarled hand she beckons you towards her cauldron, while her black cats watch with golden eyes, ravens gather in the branches and toads squat among the spell books and skulls. The sign is friendly enough: Come Friend. Her smile is another matter. It's a dense, dark-fantasy illustration for anyone who prefers their winter wicked, and a companion piece to our gnome design Come Closer.

The folklore behind the design

The animals around her are her familiars: the spirit helpers that English folklore said served a witch in animal form. The idea became notorious during the witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries. In one of England's earliest trials, at Chelmsford in 1566, a woman named Elizabeth Francis was said to have kept a white spotted cat called Sathan, which was later passed on and supposedly turned into a toad. Cats, toads, dogs and birds all appear again and again in trial records as supposed familiars. Today those records are read as a grim reminder of the real women, often poor, elderly or living alone, who were accused and persecuted.

Toads had an especially sinister reputation. When Shakespeare's Weird Sisters brew their spell in Macbeth, the very first ingredient into the pot is a toad: "Toad, that under cold stone / Days and nights has thirty-one... Boil thou first i' the charmed pot." Ravens, long seen as birds of prophecy and ill omen, complete the gathering.

Material: 100% Cotton | Pattern: Graphic Print
100 % Cotton Medium-weight 5.3 oz/yd² (180 g/m²), tubular knit construction,
ribbed collar and shoulder tape
Dual printing: DTF (sleeves/inner neck) + DTG (main design) for crisp detail
Tear-away Product Features
label, OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 certifiedCovered by a 2-year warranty in the EU and Northern Ireland per Care Instructions
Machine wash cold (max 30°C/90°F), non-chlorine bleach as needed, tumble dry low heat, do not iron, do not dry-cleanGeneral Product Safety Regulation (GPSR)
EU representative: HONSON VENTURES LIMITED,
 gpsr@honsonventures.com, 3 Gnaftis House Flat 102,
Mesa Geitonia, 4003, Limassol, CY
Product: Gildan 5000. Made in Nicaragua. For adult use.
Directive 1999/44/EC.