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The Four

Shelby Gem Factory Generating Gorgeous Gems

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The Shelby Gem Factory imports crystal from all over the world to make crystals and gemstones.

They’ve been creating rubies, emeralds, sapphires, you name it — for nearly a half-century.

“We make all the crystals here we actually make ‘em,” said the owner, Larry Kelley.

Creating crystals doesn’t happen overnight.

It actually takes three weeks.

“We start off with little teeny pieces that have been mined out of the ground,” said Larry. “Nearly 400 pounds of ruby, emeralds, and more is shipped to Michigan each month from Europe, South America, and Asia.”

“We put them in a cup about two or three inches in diameter four or five inches tall and melt that,” Larry said.

They’re melted in a furnace — but the cold outside is keeping them cold today.

“We’ve had really bad weather the last few weeks and if a furnace shuts off while we are growing a crystal — it’s a real problem,” he said.

A display in the lobby shows what the inside of the furnace looks like.

“There’s a coil there that heats up whatever you put inside that coil and so we load chemicals inside of the cup put the cup inside the coil then the coil gets electricity in it,” Larry said. “It gets really really really really hot.”

That could be an understatement — they need it to be about 4700 degrees.

Those high temperatures translate to high bills.

“Our electricity bills runs around 30-40 thousand dollars a month,” said Larry.

It’s all necessary to keep this running and eventually turn out the gorgeous gems.

The crystals come in just about every color and kind you can think of.

They’re kept here before they’re sent to a showroom, ready to light up someone’s life.

But a lot can go wrong in the process.

Like when the water gets too hot and literally explodes leaving the ground like this.

A waste of time and money.

“We don’t really like 80 thousand dollars burning up like that ya know it’s not very good,” he said.

 

That’s why they need a lot of tender love and care.

The growers check on the growing crystals every 15 minutes.

And if all goes well…

“We eventually pull it up pull it up and we get a long crystal and cut it off with a diamond saw and make gemstones out of it,” he said.

Once the crystal is cut down, it’s ready for the faceter.

That is when the crystals are essentially shaved so their sides are smoothed.

It’s shaved in the perfect shape, it’s mounted and ready to be worn.

For more information about the Shelby Gem Factory, click .

 

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