Silver keychain with teddy bear in striped teal jersey

Under the teal jersey, a teddy bear keyring set to the soles

The jersey covers the torso and the upper arms, and that is all it covers. Look lower and the figure keeps going: the belly, the two small paws at the sides and the undersides of both feet are worked exactly as the head is. Nothing below the jersey has been left plain on this face. The sleeves end well above the paws, so the metal of the arms shows only at the very ends, where the stones start again.

The paving carries on under the jersey

The two soles are the largest uninterrupted stone surfaces on the piece, a pair of ovals filled edge to edge with the same small round stones used across the forehead. Between them the belly carries a narrower band of the same setting, and the side paws pick it up again where the sleeves end. Because the bear is seated rather than standing, those soles face forward instead of downwards, so they stay in view and the lower half of the figure reads as busy as the upper one. Each stone sits in its own shallow cup and the cups are packed tight, which leaves very little metal showing between them; on the soles the rows follow the oval outline rather than running straight across, and the setting carries over the rounded edge instead of stopping flat at the rim.

Turn it over and none of that is repeated. The back is polished metal and hollow hearts, scattered over the head and the body from the crown down to the feet, with no stone and no enamel anywhere on it; only the ears are left smooth. If you want to see the other shapes made in this format, the page of metal charms and plush keyrings has them together.

Teal stripes, clear stones, bare back

Clipped to a bag strap, the bear hangs from the top of its head, so the soles end up at the bottom of the swing and the jersey faces whichever way the clasp was turned. Against plain canvas the teal is the first thing anyone registers; on a printed fabric the stones do more work, because the stripes have more competition.