Gemtrees
(gemtrees.zapfig.com or www.welcome.to/gemtrees)


by Elizabeth & Ian MacGregor and their staff

Located in the subtropical atlantic forest near Rio de Janeiro we run our cottage industry making gemtrees.

In our stone crushing and milling workshop we prepare the raw ornamental minerals that we buy from mining sites from all over Brazil.

Our workers are part of our success. They understand what we are doing and have been working with us for many years.

All stone and mineral preparation is done here on our own premises. We deal with some fourty different mineral types, for example ...

This is a tumbler that we made in our workshop. It rounds and polishes the tumbled stones, which will become the leaves of our gemtrees.

These, are then stored ready for use.

Simultaneous with the mineral preparation, tree frames are made by local home workers.

The tumbled stones are classified according to size and mineral type ...

...ready to fulfill demand for our bulk orders.

The final stages of production are done at the factory, whereas the initial making of the trees is done by home workers at home. Home workers usually only work part time at home, depending on how much time they can spare.

This tree has been made and prepared by home workers and will now be mounted on a mineral base in the factory.

This picture shows one of the work stages of tree assembly.

Here we make flowers for flower trees.

Our factory is 1000 meters above sea level. The healthy local climate allows open air work the year round.

We protect the trees against tarnish and here the are drying off after stripping and varnishing.

Then they are stored for grooming of the branches ready for dispatch.

Before shipping each tree goes through an individual quality check.

On Sundays our local workers are praying that people all over the world will love the trees.

Amethyst flower tree on Amethyst base

Chrysoprase tree

Sodalite tree on Sodalite base

Emerald tree on Emerald base

Sodalite tree on Sodalite base

Blue Chalcedony on a Calcite base

Kyanite flowers on a Kyanite quarz base

Ruby flower tree on a Fuchsite and Ruby base

Now that you have looked at this page until here, we would enjoy reading your comment in our guestbook!

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