Fountains For Sale

Everybody’s seen fountains; even if you haven’t quite seen the beautiful carved Greek fountains with water pouring out of a fish’s mouth, you must have definitely drunk water out of one. Technically speaking, fountain is an architectural design meant to pour  water out in any form. The water might be trickling out for drinking purposes or it might be jetting out with colored lights and music; but they are all fountains nevertheless. Initially, fountains were meant only to provide a means of drinking pure water and were therefore connected to streams or springs that brought the water to the fountains. However, the Romans did just what they always did, they began a new trend. The Romans found that the fountains could be made beautiful and then used as decorations around their cities and in their homes and gardens. Even though the art of using fountains for decoration began in Rome, the peak of fountain architecture was reached in Spain first way back in the fourteenth century; Italy also became a country for beautiful fountains soon in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In today’s world however, fountains serve many different purposes. They surely make great supply for drinking water and are also used as decorations in cities, but they are also often used by parks and even in homes as splash pools where one can cool off next to the water. The fountain therefore serves various purposes now.

What the fountain basically consists of is two major features. The source of the water, where the water comes from to the fountain is very important and secondly it the basin or the receiver where the water from the fountain falls into. If we should broadly divide fountains, we would perhaps have two broad distinctions. One category would be those kinds of fountains where the most important feature is the structure and the architecture of the fountain. The other kind of fountain would be that where the water and the beauty of the water spouting out is the most important and attractive feature of the fountain. For the fountains where the architectural design is of main importance, the water that is used for the fountain only adds to the beauty of the central structure of the object of the fountain itself, but all the while the design and the theme of the fountain would be more noticeable. In most European nations and more specifically in Rome, those fountains that belong to the Baroque period of Art or the Renaissance have these kinds of fountains for which the architecture itself is more important than the water; even in modern times those fountains that are influenced by the Renaissance follow the same pattern. You will notice that in these fountains even when there is no water running and the structure is just present, it is equally admired for its structural and architectural grandeur and when the water is turned on that only adds to the decoration making sparkling visions through the structure and also the soothing sound of running water. On the other hand, there are also fountains where the structural  beauty is hardly present or not present at all. Instead the beauty of the fountain lies in the water. The way the water jets out, the pattern the water forms the coordination it maintains etc is what attracts the audience to fountains of this kind. However these kinds of fountains are hardly attractive when the waters are turned off as the structure itself might be quite ordinary, perhaps only a series of pipes and spouts. Also, these kinds of fountains usually are more enjoyable when the size of the fountain is very large and can infuse a sense of awe and grandeur in those who are watching the fountain. These fountains when they are turned off seem to have nothing to hold the attention accept a puddle or pool of water, being a sign of the fountain that actually exists there.

Fountains in history

In ancient times, if we are looking at the period when fountains were primarily used as sources for providing drinking water the factor that determined whether a civilization had learnt the art of building fountains depended on the elevation of the city or more precisely the elevation of the water supply for the civilization. As we all know,  civilizations developed around one major source of water so the building of fountains also depended on this. For the Romans and the Greeks for example the source of their water was from the mountains and since that was at an elevation above their own cities, they needed the building of fountains which would eventually pour the water out into a basin for everybody to drink from. It is said that way back in the sixth century, the then ruler of Athens (capital of Greece) Peisistratos built the largest and the main fountain in the city of Athens. This huge fountain was built in the main square in the center of the city which had nine spouts that poured water out into an equally large basin from which the people of the town received their daily supply of water. The ancient cities of Greece however had numerous such fountains that followed the same stereotypical form of architecture. They were usually made of marble if not some other kind of stone and had the water flowing through the spouts into the basin, usually these spouts were mouths of a mask that was sculpted into the marble and the masks were always that of animals such as a lion etc. The fountains, even though very similar in their architectural type were all different from one another and the art that was developing can naturally be seen in many of those that exist in some cities of Greece or paintings of which can be seen on ancient Greek vases. Their beauty lay in the sculpture that was painfully done onto the fountains and the serene scene that the fountain with soft flowing water represented.

The Romans on the other hand, who were the first to use the fountains not merely for water supply purposes were also the civilization that made most use of the water flowing through the fountains the. They used the water from the fountains for drinking purposes definitely but the water was also used by them as supply for irrigation and also as baths for the nobility. Thus the requirement of tastefully designing these fountains perhaps came into being because of all the uses of the fountains that were found all  over their ancient cities. So the Roman baths that were mainly used by the nobility of the cities were the cause for the advancement in the design of the fountains where Roman engineers sought to create better pipes that transported the water from the springs to the city and such other designs. Pompeii which was one of the ancient Roman cities that was excavated in modern times was found to still have several free standing fountains and baths and they were located all over the city. Even the nobles of the city had their own personal fountains that spouted water into a basin in their garden from the source of water outside the city. As always the nobles lived in luxury. If you looked into the statistics of the city of Rome itself, there were supposed to be nearly forty fountains all around the city, each of which was ornamental in their design and architecture and these fountains themselves poured water into nearly six hundred basins that again were located all around the city and were meant for free public use. Besides these, the private villas of the nobles and of course the Regal households had their own baths and basins and even fountains which would only add to the total number of fountains all around the city of Rome.

The Romans in fact were quite ahead of their times if you should know, their fountains were not only spouting water into a basin but in fact their fountains were jetting water out. The hydraulic pressure that is created when water flows from a higher source to an outlet was encapsulated by these Roman engineers and then incorporated into their fountains so that these fountains had water spurring in jets out into the air. Magnificent stories have been read and heard in connection with these ornamental fountains which were also quite technologically advanced. Pliny, an ancient historian describes in one of his texts how a splendorous villa in Rome had a singularly beautiful fountain that used to jet out water in sync with guests of the house seating themselves on the marble seats of the villa, this fountain was inside the banquet room of the villa. It did not end there; the water that spouted out of the fountain flowed into a basin, where the dinner courses were served to the guests on plates that floated on the water in the shape of little boats.

One of these ancient Roman fountains that were originally created at the above time period, around the first century AD can still be seen today. The fountain is in the shape of a pine cone and is completely made of bronze. It is now situated near the Belvedere Palace which has also become a big tourist spot in the city.
In the medieval times, this was of course post-the Roman age that we were just talking about, the fountains that were being built assumed a different kind of meaning altogether, a religious symbol of sorts. The fountains started to be associated with the purity and innocence that were a part of the religious symbol of the Garden of Eden. In the monasteries that played very important roles in the medieval times, fountains were constructed in the center of the cloister to portray the grace of the Garden of Eden and the water of which were used for the cleansing before any religious service. Such examples can be seen in numerous paintings of the times and in fact in the city of Provence one can still see a few examples of these. During the same period, fountains were also used to decorate gardens that represented gardens of love where men and  women spent time of their courtship. These fountains only added to the beauty of such gardens that were quite common during the period that we are talking about. These gardens were places of relaxation and of leisure and the fountains were used as a decorative piece of architecture. The Medieval Age is also one that was very religious centric as e had talked about earlier about the fountains assuming the role of the representation of the tranquility of the Garden of Eden, and some of these fountains were also in fact used to depict biblical narratives and also the religious history of the local history etc; these were usually painted onto the fountains just like they were illustrated on the walls of the cathedrals of the same period. In Perugia there is one particular fountain called the Fontana Maggiore which has carvings on its body that depicts the lives of saints and holy prophets along with scenes from the bible itself. In fact, many fountains of the time just like they were used by the ancient Romans were also used as a source of amusement; examples of such were the fountains that were used by hosts of a mansion to drench guests wet with its water as a surprise just for the sake of amusement.

Like it was noted in the introduction, Spain too was responsible for taking the architecture of Fountains to a greater artistic level as these were found all over the Moorish cities of Spain. Granada particularly was also supposed to have numerous famous fountains. These fountains spouted water that was not primarily used to provide drinking water to the people of Spain but instead they were used for providing irrigation facilities for the trees such as the Myrtle trees which were found in abundance there. There is one famous fountain that can be found in Alhambra and is called the Court of Lions. The fountain is an elaborate architectural piece which has the fountain existing on a vast platform that is mounted on several stone lions. From the spout in the platform the water jets out into the air and also water pours forth from the mouth of each of the twelve lions that carry the platform. The water that pours out from the mouths of the lions flows into four different channels that run across the courtyard where the fountain is located and dives the courtyard into four equal halves. The fountain is as old as having being structured in the eleventh century and has existed since then, a definite treat to the eye.

The Arabs and the Persians who themselves were fond of splendor no less had also taken part in this era of having used ornamental fountains as pieces to be admired. The Ottoman Empire for instance used their beautiful fountains again for religious purposes and had them built next to their mosques. The water from these fountains was used by those visiting the mosques to cleanse themselves before entering. Even the palaces of the Imperials of the Ottoman Empire are said to have used these fountains for decorating their homes and also to provide drinking water for the households. Also, the land of the Ottomans was majorly desert land and the climate was hot and so these fountains were also a source of cooling the breeze that flowed through the house. Alexander Pushkin in one of his famous poems describes one such fountain that can still be found in Crimea, called the fountain of Tears.

 One familiar with the history of Europe would know that it was during the fourteenth century that major changes started to take place in Europe at least where art and literature were concerned. The Renaissance period had begun, where scholars of Italy at the time had begun to rediscover the older texts by ancient Greek and Roman scholars. Among these texts on history and literature, were texts on beauty and art and architecture which included the descriptions of fountains and gardens by Pliny. The major step that was taken in the Renaissance period in Rome was by the then Pope, Pope Nicholas V. He himself was a literary scholar and after having rediscovered numerous ancient Greek and Roman texts decided to redecorate the city with all the kinds of architecture that he was learning about and transform the existing Christian capital into something beautiful. Thus began his commissioning of engineers and architects and artists who began to redecorate the city and one of the most major components of their decoration were these fountains. The first fountain that was eventually built in Rome during this Renaissance period was the fountain that now exists in front of the Piazza. The design of this fountain is not only phenomenal but also became an inspiration for other fountains around Rome and also many built in France. It consisted of a vasque where the spout jetting out water flowed from and the vasque itself was raised on a circular stepped platform. The water from the spout flowed into a large basin below the vasque. A few years later, the then Pope of Rome, Pope Julius II decided to continue what his predecessor had begun and so he decided to build a garden in one part of the city which would be duly decorated with statues of classical figures and also beautiful fountains. The fountains in this garden are some of the loveliest fountains in the world, the pretty garden only adding to the charm of the fountain. The largest fountain is one that is surrounded by a huge basin at the center of which there is a large spout that jets out water into the air.

In Florence, the reign of the fountains developed under its youngest ruler Medici. Before he had come to the throne, fountains had never really existed and water was supplied to the city for its drinking and irrigation through reservoirs but Medici decided to act differently. One of the most phenomenal fountains in Florence is the Fountain of Neptune that was built under Medici’s reign and has a splendorous sculpture of Neptune who resembles Medici as the main architectural feature of the fountain. Under the reign of Medici, fountains not only became the source of water to the city but also became a means of art form whereby the fountain could be used as a canvas to advertise the rule of his kingdom and the rulers’ power. The Medici Villa that was built while he was reigning has two of the most beautiful fountains of Florence and both were used artistically to propagandize the rule of the kingdom. One fountain had the sculpture of two bronze men, one was Hercules and the other was Antaeus and obviously it depicted  Hercules slaying the other; this was representative of Medici’s victory over all his enemies and all other powers. The other Fountain had a more complicated message for the people of the city and all its visitors though it might not have been that difficult to get for the people of that period. The fountain depicted the Goddess Venus in a beautiful pose. What it meant was that the planet Venus itself is supposed to be under the reign of Capricorn which on the other hand was the emblem used by Medici himself. So the fountain symbolized Medici’s power over Florence.

So as the Renaissance was growing so was the splendor of these fountains, they had  almost assumed theatrical proportions by now ach trying to outdo the other. Some had mythological characters sculptured onto them while others resembled waterfalls and other with roaring animals with water flowing out of their mouths. One of the most popular of these at the time was the Villa d’Este in Tivoli. This one was a dramatic fountain at its best; the fountain was situated along a hillside and had multiple fountains streaming out jets of water into large pool like basins with. The fountain also produced music by falling into certain chambers that had flute like instruments that created music. This was a garden of beauty and of great architectural designs and even had little hidden fountains that soaked surprised visitors suddenly and were called water jokes.

Soon, France also caught on with the Italian Renaissance trend that had already been set, and incidentally these fountains were introduced in France by Henry II who was married to a woman who belonged to the Medici ruling family of Italy. The oldest fountain in Paris was thus built under his reign and was built to commemorate his entry into the city as per ceremony. It is called the Fontaine des Innocents. Henry IV had actually invited a hydraulics engineer from Italy to work on the working of the fountains that were being built in Paris at the time. The fountains that were built during the King’s reign were all inspired by the Italian gardens with their ornamental fountains. He also had two fountains built for his favorite Mistress Diana; however after he died, his wife (who belonged to the Medici family) became Queen and she had the mistress expelled from the country and then built her own traditional Italian style fountains around the city which included the Medici fountain that was built to have been her monumental fountain in Paris. This particular fountain is actually still existing today and has a long basin with water flowing into it along with several statues that were added later on after her death and even later after that.

Later in the 17th and 18th Centuries

Again, if we take into account the construction of fountains during this period, we would have to consider the same European countries as having reached the pinnacle of fountain architecture. However, in this period, the older style of fountains was given up and a new style of fountains was taken up architecturally to be built. These were the baroque fountains. This Baroque art was an art form that was being promoted by the Catholic Church at the time in their protest against the Reformation movement that was gaining pace in Italy at the time. The characteristic features of this art form were supposed to be that of being lavish and were supposed to dramatic and steer emotions. The fountains too therefore had these characteristic features of having lots of allegorical symbols and being able to create a sense of awe and drama. These Baroque art features were meant to inspire a feeling of power of the religious rulers within anybody who saw it.
The Piazza San Pietro was one of the first fountains that were constructed in Rome which belonged to the Baroque style of architecture. St. Peters Basilica had recently been given a Baroque façade itself and the fountain that was constructed before the Basilica was meant to compliment the architecture behind itself. The water that shot out of the fountain reached up to twenty feet high in the air because of eth high elevation that was the source of the water for the fountain. The fountain structure itself is a beautiful sight with two circular vasques facing each other, the one above the lower one inverted to face it. This fountain structure was also reconstructed in Paris almost two hundred years later because of the beauty of the design. The Triton Fountain was another such fountain that till date has one of the most magnificent sculptures on itself. The fountain has a master piece of a Baroque sculpture of a Triton man, who was supposed to be half men and half fish. This Triton is playing a flute, in his attempt to calm the waters. Because of the high elevation of the source of the water and also because the fountain itself was situated in a valley, the water jetted to nearly sixteen feet high in the air.

One other fountain that is a must for mentioning among all these other fountains is the Trevi Fountain. The Trevi Fountain is most definitely the largest of all the fountains in Rome and not only this it is also the most spectacular of all the others. The architecture of the Fountain, again a Baroque form was built in order to honor the three Popes who had influenced the building of this fountain. These three Popes were Pope Clement XII, Pope Benedict XIV and the third was Pope Clement XIII. Oceanus is the central figure that has been sculpted in the fountain and this is a personification of all the sources of water that includes the seas and the oceans etc. Nymphs and Sylphs and tritons surround this figure around the fountain. The beauty of this fountain lies in the fact that the fountain itself was located not on a very low altitude compared to the aqueduct which was its source, so the force with which the water jetted out was also consequentially not very strong. So what the engineers and the designers who were responsible for the construction of the fountain did was that they dug the fountain in to the ground and thereby lowered the level of the fountain making it at a further lower level than its source of water. However, the speed of the water flowing out wasn’t as strong as many other fountains elsewhere; however the fountain has the most beautiful affects that are created by making the water flow down in cascades and rather tumbling down.

If we move onto France round about the same period, what was happening there was that King Louis XIV was building a new garden for himself; this was to be called the French Formal garden. He too made the use of fountains in a way that they played an integral part of the theme of the garden as a whole; they were used by him to demonstrate the artistic power of man over nature itself, in turn also showing off the glory of his reign. He did the same in the Garden of Versailles, where the water didn’t flow down as would have been the natural occurrence due to gravity, but instead the water was shot high up in the air in the decorative design of a handheld fan. These fountains were combined with music and dancing waters where the water spouted out along with the music in set patterns. Thus the fountains had become a means of entertainment for the citizens and quite a spectacle. Among all the fountains in the Garden of Versailles, two fountains are worth mention over all the other, which again could be said to be masterpieces in their own rights. Both these fountains actually were designed to symbolize the King himself using his emblems of the Sun God, Apollo as the figures of sculpture in the designs. The stories that the fountains told were also significant representative of Louis’ own life. The Fountain Latone tells the story how the people of the village had ill treated Latona and her two children Apollo and his sister Diana. These villagers had been punished by gods nevertheless by being turned into frogs. This story is representative of how the uprising in his own country had affected Louis’ mother; Anne of Austria. The fountain actually wonderfully portrays the punishment of the masses when the water of the fountain is turned on. The water then falls on the peasantry who are depicted as being turned into creatures.  This Fountain is one of the must-see fountains if you are ever on one such tour as a legend is depicted for the sale of portraying the power of a king in a mystical architectural feat. The other Fountain that was being spoken about as having to do again with the representation of Louis’ glory was the Bassin d’Appolon. This is a simpler statue that is represented by Apollo. He is on his chariot and rising out of water. Tritons and other sylphs create a pomp and show about his arrival with trumpets. As Apollo was the emblem of the King at the time, this fountain is supposed to glorify the king and was made in order to flatter the imperial throne. Nevertheless this fountain too was beautiful in grandeur and remained one of the major fountains in the Garden of Versailles. There surely were numerous other  fountains with different themes that added to the beauty of the Garden itself.  There was also a series of animal figured fountains that were supposed to be depictions of a collection of fables of the country. In fact, Louis had so many fountains built all over the city of Versailles that all the fountains could not be kept running with water all the time; so the tradition was that the tenders would have to switch on all the fountains that the King was going to pass when he arrived and subsequently turned those fountains off that he had crossed.
However, in Russia the era of the fountains began around this time and the fountains of St. Petersburg had gained similar popularity as the fountains of the rest of major Europe. Peter the Great who had recently turned St. Petersburg into the capital of Russia at the time had begun to construct these glorious fountains in the city. In fact he had visited the Garden Of Versailles and had been so impressed by the Fountains there that he was inspired to make the fountains in the same cascading style. The Fountain of Samson was another one of those great fountains that were to be found in the city. The fountain represented Samson trying to pry open the mouth of a lion with his bare hands, again a symbol of the power of the king. The fountain was also supposed to signify the victory that Russia had gained in the Northern War over Sweden. Another feature that the king had added to these fountains and the gardens surrounding them was a feature that was also very dominant among the Italian Renaissance fountains; those were the hidden fountains that used to drench unsuspecting visitors with sprays of water.

The more-modern Fountains

If we move over to the later age, taking into consideration the period form the time of the nineteenth century most of the European cities and the major ones at that had begun to use a different system for supplying water to the citizens of their cities. If earlier there had been fountains now there were directly linked pumps and wells and aqueducts that brought into the water directly into the homes of the citizens. The functional value of the fountains thus started to ebb and they became more of decorations around the cities. They were still being built but they were being built simply for honoring somebody or were built for the architectural beauty of it all.

In London you must know that there are several beautiful and splendorous fountains in the Trafalgar Square; the Trafalgar Square itself had been constructed for honorary purposes to honor Lord Nelson as he had defeated the French Napoleon Bonaparte. It is said that the Trafalgar Square was a few years later added with these beautiful fountains because the authorities wanted the vast space to be broken up and give unruly political demonstrations imitations for taking place. These fountains which were the original fountains of Trafalgar Square obviously did not survive the test of time and very recently in the mid 1900’s were replaced by fountains which were constructed in honor of World War I heroes.

In France too around this time of the 19th century, building new fountains and supplying the city with water became one of the major concerns of their new ruler Napoleon Bonaparte. His plan was to build fifteen fountains in the whole of Paris to bring about a new and fresh change in the city along with restoring the older fountains that were currently in ruins, among these was the Medici Fountain as well. And so the fountains began to be built all over the city, these fifteen fountains were eventually built, he older fountains restored and nearly simple fountains for drinking water were built around the city with simple stone taps for the citizens. Such fountains such as the Chateau d’Eau made water the main spectacle instead of the sculpture of the fountain with all the cascades and the way the water jetted out or flowed into large basins below and also the sounds they made, so the way the water was being presented was the major spectacle and the attraction for the Parisians. With the reign of King Louis Philippe the fountains of France reached new heights altogether. By this time, drinking water was being supplied to the citizens through canals and pipes directly to homes making it unnecessary to make fountains for drinking purposes; so now the fountains that were being built were for ornamental purposes and for beautifying Paris as a whole. One of the most notable fountains of this period that is indeed worth mentioning among others is the Fontain Louvois which was built with four female sculptures along the fountain that was actually representative of the four rivers.
The subsequent second republic of Louis-Napoleons again brought he fountains of Paris to greater heights of achievement. One of his major concerns was the quality of the drinking water that was being provided to the citizens through these fountains. Paris at the time had nearly hundred fountains as mentioned before which were meant to supply drinking water to the public while there were also a few that were supposed to be only for decoration sake in the city. However his new plan that included the purifying of the drinking waters of Paris included that all the cleaner waters form the springs would be supplied to drinking water fountains and the river water that could not always be relied upon for cleanliness would be used for all other purposes including the cleaning of the roads as well as for the supply of water for the fountains. For this reason and also for purposes of restoration, some of the older fountains that included the Medici fountains were restored and repaired and some were even rebuilt and many were shifted to new locations. One of the most distinct new fountains that were built during the reign of Louis-napoleon was the Fontaine Saint Michael. This fountain had its design changed three times. Initially it was the structure of a woman which would have symbolized peace but was changed into the structure of napoleon Bonaparte but however this change was met with opposition by many and so finally it was changed into the statue of St. Michael, in battle with the devil himself. Incidentally this was the last fountain that was built in the city of Paris which was against a wall. However it was later during the reign of the Third republic that some of the most loved fountains in Paris were built that included the fountain near the Louvre which consisted of statues of a sea nymph and a river nymph. Also, the great contributions made by the English Industrialist Richard Wallace to the city of Paris in the form of several hundred cast-iron fountains was made because of the several many years that he had spent in the city. These fountains were built all over the city and apparatenly Wallace had made this contribution to increase the availability of drinking water in the city and to reduce the consumption of alcohol hopefully as a result of this.

The first fountains and that too the monumental kinds that strictly served decoration purposes that were built in the United States were built in New York and they were supposed to have been built in order to celebrate the terminus tat brought in the clean drinking water into the city. The Union Square and the City Hall Park were the two places where these two fountains originally were placed in the city; however these fountains were not ornamental but instead were simple spouts that poured water out in a jet; in fact if you look for remnants of these fountains you would not find them as the fountains do not exist anymore. Very soon followed Boston after New York after they had completed the construction of their own water system for the first time, they too celebrated and marked this new milestone with the construction of a fountain. This too like most of the other initial fountains that had been built in America during the same time were all fairly simple and not ornamental in anyway, their only function was to commemorate something by spouting water out. It was however later during the 1850’s that a nationwide project began that affected the aspect of the fountains as well. The new project was that America needed to be beautified and this was by following the example that was set by the country’s European counterparts. Thus began an era of building numerous beautiful parks and squares that included the construction of fountains as well.

Central park that was built in New York as a part of the project to beautify the country, the Bethesda Fountain was constructed in this park as part of decoration. The Bethesda Fountain was inspired by a Biblical (to be found in the Gospel of Saint John). Here an angel was said to have given healing powers to the waters of the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem by simply touching the waters of the pool. The fountain too represented such an angel in the act of touching the water of Bethesda.

Now that the historical part of the fountains have been taken care of, let us look at the different types of fountains that are to be found all over the world and the varied purposes that they serve.

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  • Drinking Fountains: These were the earliest forms of fountain architecture that date back to be found in the ancient cities of Greece and Rome. These drinking fountains in fact in the modern sense of the term do not even need to spout out water in a jet or a steady flow into a basin in fact any kind of arrangement that provides drinking water even through a tap is called a drinking fountain, even  the ones that have taps. Nowadays there are drinking fountains that use filters to remove impurities before they spout out and even have temperature controlling devices. From ancient times to the modern day, drinking fountains are characteristic features of a public area such a park and nowadays schools and other resting areas. In ancient times these drinking fountains were found all over the cities on roads and in gardens and even inside homes as they were the only source of providing water to citizens.
  • Splash Fountains: These kinds are the exact opposite of the drinking fountains as they are absolutely not meant for drinking purposes. They are also known as bathing fountains and are designed and constructed in order for people to cool themselves during hot days. These Splash Fountains are actually part of modern architecture as they were not built during the ancient years and they also have some great modern features. These fountains are designed with features that make the surrounding area non-slippery so that in spite of all the water no ne falls and hurts themselves. Besides this these Splash Pools also have the feature of being made in a way that there is no standing water ever running around the course of the fountain, this is done so that nobody has to be in risk of drowning even if the Fountain has no supervision as such. These fountains are usually located inside public parks etc and are definitely meant for free public use. For obvious reasons these fountains are not made ornamental but instead only serve the purpose of splashing and spraying water around for people to have a little fun in the heat with water.
  • Fountains as religious symbols: Fountains have also over the years become a part of religion and are also used as religious and historical symbols not to mention them being used for legends and celebrations etc. In Islam for example, worshipers were always supposed to cleanse themselves in a fountain water before they began their prayers, in the Medieval era in the monasteries the monks also followed an almost similar ritual of washing themselves in a fountain’s water before they began their service. Also, the Fountain of Life is almost a religious symbol that is used for the process of baptism in the Christian philosophy. These Fountains of Life have inspired quite a few Gothic large fountains to be constructed inside gardens etc. Speaking in the same lines is the Fountain of Youth which was more legendry than religious and it was said in the legends that those whoever drank form this fountain of youth gained back the purity and innocence of their youth or in other words became immortal.
  • Hydraulophone: these are actually quite mechanical devices which are more similar to fountains than anything else and their special feature is that they can also play music or rather they act as a musical instrument that can be played by an individual for an audience. Actually these instruments are similar to the wooden instruments that produce sound using air but instead these instruments use water and the technology with which the much larger fountains function to produce a patterned music.

 

Fountains for your home

After having read all this it might occur to you that fountains perhaps are meant only for the outdoors but the opposite is actually true with the changing times. Now, fountains of smaller proportions are being added to indoor locations and even table tops! They can even become a great addition for your garden or even inside your home as  buying a fountain and installing it on a small scale is really not all that much trouble as it seems that the Greeks and the Italians took. There are some great small fountains that can even be built by you at home for your garden using nothing more than a pile of pebbles and a jet and a pump. There are numerous kinds of submersible pumps that are available and which jet out water in any way that you may want it. All you have to do is place the pump in such a way that it remains hidden behind a heap of pebbles and the water can jet out form top. You can even crate your own ornate fountain if you have a statue of any kind at home. You need to only attach the outlet pipe of the pump to the statue and you can control the flow of water out form the pipe as well. The shape of the spray is actually pretty easy to control using various kinds of nozzles and then water is sprayed out in different shapes and designs according to your wish. So you don’t have to be a noble nay longer to have a fountain in your home. Actually there are also some Wall fountains that are available for buying and if you conduct a small search you will be sure to find it and these can be easily added to your garden and decorate it. These fountains are actually quite easy to set up too; they have a pump built in already so you do not need to attach anything you just merely need to hang it from an appropriate wall and of course the fountain needs to be connected to some source of water, usually a tank at the bank or a reservoir of sorts and also a source of electricity to run on. These wall fountains that keep spouting water out actually look very lovely to be attached on your poolside also.

Fountains for inside your home are also perfect for home décor and provide the tranquility that comes with the sound of soothing water constantly. Not only that but these small fountains meant for table tops etc are also works of real art inspired by various kinds of art from around the world. One of the best kinds of indoor fountains is the small wall fountains. These can easily be fitted into a space that is left empty on the wall and you just can’t seem to find that one piece of decoration that would go with it. Well wall fountains are perfect and look great with whatever it is that your theme for your decoration is. These fountains are on eye level and thus provide all that tranquility that we were just talking about. There are some special pieces of art-wall fountains that have some kind of art or a painting at the background and have water flowing down the front of the painting and thus add that special feature to the room of having a painting as well as a beautiful fountain. For even smaller rooms and spaces table top fountains are actually perfect. These are best suited for home office tables or even on kitchen counters where it can attract attention away from its immediate surroundings if that is your purpose anyway. Also, many would recommend keeping small fountains on your bedside table as they are perfect to look at and something appealing to the eye always helps in a bedroom and not only that but the soothing sound of water tricking in a fountain is also supposed to help you sleep easier and better. However the most eye catching of all these kinds of indoor fountains are the floor fountains. These are larger than the rest and look more dramatic placed on the floor of a room with water flowing down it. The sound that the floor fountains produce is even sweeter than other of the  home fountains both indoor and outdoor and is a great piece of decoration for any and all kinds for themes of décor that you might have for your house. Also, all these indoor fountains would be available for you in all kinds of materials as well to suit its surroundings, from copper to glass and ceramic to stone and slate there are fountains of every kind. You might even find a fountain manufacturer that uses organic material to make their fountains. Also whatever your décor it would never harm to add to it some of the charm of these ancient and traditional decorations.

Having fountains inside your home can actually be beneficial to your health. There have been several studies conducted on how beneficiary the sound of flowing water can be to the body. The sound of the water trickling helps one to relax and breathe better and thus having a fountain inside your house and having to hear that sound constantly inside your home would also thus help you live better. Running water and the sounds and sights of it have been used around the world for curing stress related issues and are now even being used for treatment purposes for alcoholics and also women in labor etc. if you belong to the richer category of people in the world you might just have a stream in your backyard and you can listen to the sound of the running water whenever you like or if you live near a waterfall then it’s a different matter entirely, but most of us would not have access to continuous flowing water in our backyards or trips down to the beach even whenever we want and for folks like us the best option would be to just introduce a small fountain inside your home or even inside your office space. No matter how cynical you might be right now, but if you listen quietly to the sound of flowing water and very intently at that you are sure to be transported to a beautiful natural space of peace and quiet and the sound actually helps in canceling out all unpleasant sound and noise that might be surrounding you, this is the reason why sleeping next to a small fountain actually helps in getting you some sound sleep. Also, if you are into meditation or some other form of peaceful exercising such as Yoga having such a sound and sight to concentrate on when you are practicing this would definitely help you out. Not only will it help you fall asleep but the sound of a nearby soft fountain is also known to put children to sleep and also calm down noisy babies and put them to sleep as well. Also, if you decide to place a small table top fountain on your desk at work it would surely help to relax you throughout your stressful day and help you calm down cancelling out all the negative energy that might be surrounding you. That is what is great about these fountains too that they can be placed in nearly in any room of the house, from your bathroom to help you on a day when you need a long warm bath to relieve the stress and even in your children’s room or office apart from using it as a decorative piece already.
Another great kind of fountain that makes a perfect piece of decoration for indoors or  even for your gardens is the Rock fountains. These Rock garden Fountains are perfect because they help with the tranquility that comes with running water while the rocks provide a perfect background and visual appeal to the whole decoration. Also, there are many people who would love to have something made of rock in their landscape or for the overall design of their home, and if you do not live near a mountain or any other similar rocky terrain then getting a rock garden fountain for yourself would be the perfect way out. You could even place such a fountain in a place which you need to keep illuminated, for instance a darkened corner of the room. If you can place a few lights in a strategic position, the lights form a lovely illusion of bright light by shining off the surface of the rocks and that corner will look lit up. No matter what the size of a Rock garden maybe, the most typical of these consist of a carved kind of a structure that would have a pump which would be able to pump out water to the top of the nozzle of the fountain and then back down to the pool that would be collecting the water gradually. As tradition has it, the rock garden fountains are usually carved out of one single piece of rock of whatever size that you want your fountain to be. These rock fountains derive their beauty from the way that the main rock is carved by hand by artisans and experts and even large parts of the rock is simply chipped away for the sake of the beauty of the design that is required to be achieved. On the other hand, if slate rocks are used for a particular fountain, then they are capable of providing a unique design for a tiered sort of a fountain; the slate is slowly chipped off and the slate pieces themselves are in a varied length so that the fountain assumes a tiered and platform shape. Also, another very popular kind of rock that is very often used for these rock fountains are the polished stones or granites, which help the water from the fountain to easily slip off into the basin creating a beautiful shiny effect. The designs that can actually be carved into the stones are varied, and you would of course have to buy these from expert professionals who are very sure of their work of carving out on rocks to make a garden fountain out of it. Usually these fountains are made to stand on one such rock bowl that is cut out from a larger rock piece and thus its serves as the basin or the reservoir for the water from the fountain. So, when you are choosing a rock garden fountain for yourself you would have to determine the style of the fountain first. Firstly, you would have to decide on the kind of rock fountain that you want yourself and that too you need to keep the interior of the room or preferably the garden for your fountain in mind when you are making your selection. For example, if your garden is a country style garden, then the best choice for you would be to go for a rock fountain that is made of sheet rock. This kind of rock creates the kind of fountain that would have many layers and edges and the water would eventually be trickling down the edges for a great effect for your country garden. These fountains also have several different levels of ledges which will allow you to place different decoration on the fountain such as country animals like ceramic frogs that look lovely with such rock garden fountains. Usually people decorate around the Rock garden fountain with nice country flowers such as lilies or roses or even hollyhocks that look great with the entire country theme of the garden and the rock fountain. Or if you have a Japanese themed garden for instance, then you can have a simple rock fountain that would have simple Japanese sayings or words etched onto the surface of the fountain. The whole idea for a rock fountain in a garden that has a Japanese theme is to achieve a Zen like appeal and this can be done so if the basin always and constantly has a thin layer of water, this would have a calming effect on your garden as well. These rock fountains can be decorated around with Japanese flowers such as Orchids or Hostas or even Japanese maples if available. If you have a formal garden or  an English garden at home, then the best kind of Rock fountain to go for would be the ones that have a marble base or even base with mosaic tiles that would serve as a great way to decorate such a garden. After you have determined what kind of a rock fountain you would be settling for, depending on the kind of garden that you have. Remember that there are many kinds of gardens as there are rock fountains so according to the picture that you want your garden to portray buy the rock fountain. After you have bought your fountain, placing it will have to be done with care. If you place the fountain on your patio or on a side table there then the effect that the fountain will have on the surrounding would be a tranquilizing and relaxing effect. However, if you have a larger rock garden and you place it in the corner of a deck, then it will help your deck look homely and comfortable. Also, indoors you may locate your rock fountain in such a place where you want to create an atmosphere of the outdoors and the forests with the soft trickle of water in your room.

Okay, even if you are doing great with all the information about the home indoor fountains and how much these indoor fountains can help improve your lifestyle only by providing you with the tranquil sounds of nature, you might still think five times before spending money on one and so here is a simple way of how you can make a small table top fountain for your home.

You will need a few things to create this simple water fountain for your home. Bamboo spout kits, these will act as the pipes and spouts for the water flowing out, these are available in kit forms and there are many manufacturers of these. You will plenty of companies selling these bamboo spouts online as well as in retail stores and will not cost you very much. Besides the bamboo spouts you will require some rocks and you can have colorful ones and a largish bowl and also a watertight container. This container would form the base for the fountain as a whole. The choice of your water tight container, aka a bowl should be the right size that would be able to handle the flow of water out of the bamboo spout, so according to the size of the spout itself you should be able to assume an approximate amount of water flowing out and how much water would be collected and thus how big your bowl should be, the water should not ebb out of the edges of the container. You can actually try out various designs of containers that could hold the water and the bamboo spouts that would be simply resting atop the bowl. The bamboo spouts would also have small pump that would be available with the spout which you would have to submerge under the water level, plug the pump in only after it has completely submerged under water. The rocks that you have  collected will come in handy here as you can use the rocks to cover up the pump that would be visible through the water. Now according to the bamboo spout that you have bought, you would either be placing the spout along with its supporters above the bowl resting on its edges and if the spout comes with a stand attached then you would simply need to make the bamboo spout and its supporters stand inside the bowl with the water in it. If the bowl is large enough you can also add in decorations to make your fountain look prettier, plants that fit in and also figurines can be added to add more affect to the fountain as a whole. Also, the looking after part of the fountain is also not much. You only need to put in a few drops of anti-algae chemical as and when required. There is also a type of water treatment available for anti white scaling against the bowl which also would be required from time to time to keep up the appearance of the fountain as clean and serene. Also, if you want your fountain to last long which truly only depends on how long you want the pump to last for you, you would have to constantly make sure that the water level is above the pump. So if you have this kind of a simple fountain on low cost for a while you can always buy yourself one of those other decorative fountains we were talking about earlier.

Now, there is also s lightly more complicated way of making an even fancier fountain for yourself at home, using simple materials for the construction, these are fountains that you can make out of colored and glazed pottery. Such fountains can be used as decorations inside your home or even in your garden outdoors. These fountains in fact are also great for keeping inside your room or in your patio as a humidifier and would be a decorative one at that. So, as you must have guesses, sit with some earthen pots and seal them with water seal first of all, before anything else. This kind of paint are easily available I any hardware store, in fact the pots that you would be buying would also be a little water-proofed but to stay on the safe side and to increase the longevity of your fountain you might as well just spray it with this water proof seal. You might notice that not all pots are glazed on the inside as well, if this is so, make sure that you paint the inside with Dry Lock before you start the rest of the process. Now, you must make sure that all the pots that you purchase are not of the same size, they should vary in sizes so that you can place one on top of the other and create a nice tier feature for the design of the fountain. Besides these pots you will also need some Plastic containers or pots which should be of a size that is slightly less than the two largest pots that you have for the fountain. You will also need from the hardware store, a water pump which is specifically submersible so that it can recycle the water in the fountain for you. Tubing and Silicone are the other things that you would need besides some decorative rocks etc. Now, that you are set starts off by sealing the hole that can be found at the bottom of the largest pot that you have bought for yourself. This will become the reservoir for your fountain and so sealing the base of it won’t be an easy job and also should be done carefully. To seal this hole you would need to turn the pot upside down and then cut out a plastic strip. This plastic should be some flat piece of plastic and basically any kind of plastic would do. In fact, if you have some plastic plant saucers, cut the piece out of that as that would be the best quality for sealing this off. So cut the plastic piece at least twice as large as the hole so that the hole is very well covered and then seal the plastic to the base of the pot over the hole using the 100% Silicone seal. Your next step to ensure that the hole is nicely sealed off would be to turn the pot over and then fill in the inside of the hole through the top with the silicon seal again so that you are sure that the reservoir would have no drop of water escaping through the hole for sure. However do not too enthusiastic to add the water into this pot already; the seal should dry for at least eight hours before it is properly functional as a seal to protect against water. Your next point of interest would be the pump and the installation of the pump and the feed tube.

 The tubing that you cut out should not be too short, so cut a long part out so that you can be sure that it reaches till the top of the fountain, however even if you do cut more than was required to reach the fountain you need not worry as you can always cut it out from the top. Always keep a hose clamp handy, the ideal situation would be that the tubing would fit in tightly into the pump, but just in case the tubing doesn’t then you would need a hose clamp because you need to make sure that the tubing is absolutely tightly fit onto the pump. Now, you would have to start placing the pots that you have got for the fountain on top of each other. Since the pots, which should ideally be three or four in number are in graduating size, you should also have plastic containers or pots in the similar graduating size. However as mentioned before, they should be at least an inch smaller than the larger earthen glazed pot that you are placing the plastic container into. For example, the largest earthen pot would have a plastic container fit into it that would be able to hold the second pot on top of it, the container should be strong enough and also of the right size that is; at least an inch smaller than the pot that it is in. the same goes for the next pot above it which would also need the plastic container, therefore only the topmost pot that will not have another one on top will not need a plastic container to go with it. In fact in any of your local Dollar stores you will find good quality Plastic containers in all sizes that would be perfect for such a project. Now, the next step would be to get the plastic containers to be fountain-friendly, this means that you now need to make sure that the water in the fountain has a way of finding its way down through the pots and also up through it. So firstly for that the pump needs to reach through to the top most pot; this can be achieved by using the plastic pots themselves. Just drill a hole each into the bottom of the plastic containers. However these holes need to be properly measured so that the feed tube that reaches up will pass through easily but not the water which should pass through a different hole in the container. After that you need to ensure that the water passes down the fountain as well and that can be done very simply by drilling two smaller holes on the walls of the plastic container towards the base preferably. Also, the electric wire of the pump needs to be accommodated and for that you would have to make a small notch on the top of the largest of the plastic container and then allow the wire to pass through. This way, your Riser pots that will be holding up the fountain itself will be ready for assembly and use.

Next, you will have to start assembling your fountain. This procedure should also be in the right way and should be carried out carefully to prevent in any future mishaps with your fountain. Firstly, the pump will have to be taken care of; this can be done by placing it at the bottom of the largest pot that will be resting on the floor. Be careful that the pump is placed flat and the proper placing of the pump will also require you to buy the right size and type of pump, you have to ensure that the pump would be completely submerged in water when the fountain is running, while the pump should typically be 150 GPS. So once the pump has carefully been placed inside the lowest of the pots in the fountain, you need to then place the raiser plastic container. The placing of this container should also be done carefully. You need to first turn the largest of the plastic container, which is about an inch smaller than the largest pot; upside down and then pass the feed tube through its inside, once this is done place it on top of the pot so that it covers the pump. After the container is properly in place, the second pot that is slightly smaller than the first pot needs to be placed resting on top of the plastic container that you had placed, this will act like a stand and the second pot would go on top of it. This is when you should be realizing how important the size of the pots and the containers actually are for the successful building of your fountain. So you should always first buy the pots and then according to the size of the pots you should buy the containers. The containers acting like a stand should not be sticking out from the pots that they are placed into; ideally when the top pot is placed on top of the container they are usually not that visible at all. Also, remember the tubing, you must not forget it at this stage as passing the tubing through the pots and the containers after the fountain has been set will not be possible at all and you might have to bring apart the entire fountain, so right before you place the pot on top of the container ensure that the tubing is passed through the hole at the bottom of the pot. You might find that the hole at the bottom of the pot is slightly bigger than the tubing itself, for that you simply have to cover up that extra part with some silicone and you should be good to go. You might wonder why the holes are so carefully being sealed off as water would need to pass anyway, this would be for the simple reason; to ensure that the fountain looks like one. If the water simply passes down through the holes at the bottom of the pots then the beauty of the running water would not be visible at all, but if you seal off the holes at the bottom then the water instead of passing through the bottom would overflow from the rims of the pot and give the desired effect of a lovely fountain. So the same procedure needs to be carried through for the rest of the remaining two pots as well, along with the same procedure for the container. The top most pot will of course not require a container to be placed over it as there is no need of raising another pot on top of this one.

After you have got all the arranging of the pots taken care of, you need to round up all the loose ends so that your fountain becomes functional. So the feed tube that you have threaded through the pots and the plastic container should be sticking out from the top of the topmost pot, so then cut off the tube from the top, leaving at least an inch from the end. Now, you should decorate the pot that is the topmost pot with some colorful rocks and fill the pot up to brim, surrounding the feed tube, which should be very slightly be visible from the top of the pot. However, you should also be certain of the power of the pump in comparison with the height of the fountain as well so that accordingly you can cut off the feed tube from the top, you might have to cut off more than just an inch from the end, if the power of the pump induces the water to spray out too hard out of the fountain. Ideally the water should ooze out of the feed tube back into the pot. The normal calculation is that if your fountain is about two feet high and if your pump has a power of like 160 GPH pump, then cutting off about one inch from the top would be enough for the fountain to spurt out water in a bubbling fashion which would be ideal for this kind of a fountain, the sound thus created would also be suitable and there would not be excessive splashing of water around either. So, if you can follow this simple procedure carefully, creating a small but pretty fountain for your home or even as a gift will not be difficult at all.

The source that you will use for the source of water for your home fountain can be two types, it could be a dedicated water source or it could be done by recirculation. The kind of source that you would use for your particular fountain would mainly depend how much water is needed by the fountain and how much water evaporates out as a result of splashing which occurs mostly in outdoor fountains if you have one. Firstly, the recirculation kind of source. You will find that if you purchase a fountain for your home or office the manufacturers would also give you a pump along with the fountain itself, this pump is used to circulate the water within the fountain on a constant basis. What happens is that the fountain would need some sort of reservoir full of water from which the pump will circulate the water by recycling the same water from the reservoir for the fountain. The pump transports the water to the top of the fountain and as per the design of the fountain, the water will have to again have to collect at the bottom of the fountain into the reservoir and so the same process is repeated by the pump over again. For maintenance of your fountain, you would have to keep adding water to your fountain. You might wonder why you will need to add water as the water is simply being re-used by the fountain over and over again, well there is a large amount of water that just evaporates out due to the climatic condition. If you are living in a place where the climate is very dry you would have to add water to the fountain several more times than if you were living in a humid area. The number of times you will have to add water in a week depends entirely on the climate of where you live. Also for instance in places where there is gas heat during winter time, you will find that you might need to add water more than usual through the week during winters. In fact, you could just add some water on a regular basis instead of suddenly realizing you need to add water to the fountain after a week and then having to pour lots of water into it. If you can make it into a daily habit like for instance watering your plants is, then the  fountain would also remain better functional and you would also have less of work to do. On the other hand, a dedicated water source is a source for fountains that are used on a larger scale, usually in large public places where the fountain is used for decoration or used commercially. The Dedicated source of water is for the fountain alone as the fountain would be much larger than the usual smaller home fountains and nobody would be there to fill up the source with gallons of water on a regular basis. This venture is usually much more costly than filling up your smaller indoor fountain with water on a daily or even a weekly basis and thus is used mainly for commercial and large scale purposes. However you could in fact try out a simpler method for making a dedicated source of water for your outdoor fountain for example by simply attaching a garden hose to the fountain. There are ways by which you can make your own dedicated source for your outdoor fountain but you would need to make more arrangements with your plumber if you want something more than just a garden hose as your source. Also, the manufacturer of your fountain when you buy one usually determines the kind of source of water you would need for the fountain.

Also, there is an easier way out if you are interested seriously in the rock garden fountains and you find that buying such a fountain would just cost you more than you had planned on spending; you can always build one yourself. Building a garden rock fountain is easier than you think, with only a few requirements you can make for yourself  a beautiful rock fountain that could become the focal point of your garden and add beauty to the whole area. Besides the most obvious of things that you would need for making such a fountain such as the shovel and the tamper, you would also need special vinyl liners that are made for ponds, you would need flat rocks; make sure that the rocks that you get for making these kinds of fountains should not be either too small or big, medium sized rocks would be the perfect size for making the fountain. Besides these, you would have to buy the fountain-essential the submersible water pump and along with that you would also need a pump hose to make the connection. Firstly, before you start anything for the construction of the rock fountain you would have to be sure of the location of the fountain, where exactly you would like the fountain to exist in your garden. The most popular locations for placing a rock fountain in your garden, and definitely those are also the most suitable location in the garden are corners of the garden, or even in front of walls which could be decorated well with leaves and plants for a perfect backdrop for the rock fountain or even at a spot in the garden that would have the rock fountain well surrounded with lots of vegetation and plants and flowers. However the most important thing to keep in mind when you are selecting a allocation for the building of the rock fountain is that you would also need an electrical outlet to which the pump that will be submerged under the water of the fountain can be connected to. Once you have decided on the location for your fountain, you would next have to start digging the hole in that spot for the pond around which the rock formation will be structured. You can make the pond as big or small as you wish and you can even dig it into any shape that you want but you have to only make sure that the pond is not too shallow or too deep, anywhere between one and a half and two feet in depth would be perfect for the fountain. After you have shoveled the pond to the size and shape that you want the pond to be in, you need to start using the tamper to tamp the ground of the garden around the dugout pool in the places that you will be positioning the rocks for the fountain and also inside the hole that you have dug out. This is one procedure in the making of the rock fountain that is an absolute must as that will make sure that the ground which is tampered is solid as any kind of movement in the soil would only ruin the placement of the rocks etc. Next, you will have to use the Vinyl Pond liner on the inside of the hole for the pond that you have dug out. The placement of this Vinyl liner is actually quite important in the final outcome of the fountain. Lay down this liner flat right on the bottom of the dugout pond, this should also be stretched and laid flat against the walls of the inside of the pond as well, whatever part of the liner is outside the hole should also be laid flat on the ground and the position of this should be maintained, for this you can even place the rocks on the vinyl liner to ensure that there isn’t any shifts. After the lining has been neatly lid over the hole of the pond, you have to place the pump that would be recycling the water through the fountain at the bottom of the hole as well, the pump hose that is the tubing should be connected to the pump and placed on a spot where you want the water from the pump to start flowing over the rocks that you would be positioning later. The next important thing to do is to find a way how you would get the chord that connects the pump to the outlet outside the fountain to be hidden from casual view when the chord is connected. The easiest thing to do actually is to simply bring the cord around and over the rocks that you will be placing so that it is not visible to the eye and then to bury it lightly under the soil so that it is not visible if the cord has to be pulled to a certain distance away from the fountain. After all this is taken care of, your next concern would be to arrange the fountain with the rocks and get the water flowing aesthetically. So you can start that by just stacking up the rocks on top of each other so that the water can flow through them down into the pond again for it to be recycled by the pump and then sent through the pump hose back to the top. Therefore you can stack up the rocks as high as you want but as long as you do not end up squeezing the tubing or pinching it with too many rocks or the wrong positioning of the rocks. After you have arranged the rocks the way you would like them to look with the pond, cut out the vinyl liner that remained on top of the pond however a few inches must still remain of it to hold it in place. Then you can cover up this extra liner that would be sticking out with some flat rocks so that they become a part of the structure of the rock fountain itself. Once this is done, your fountain is ready and set to start functioning. All you have to do now is fill in the pond with water and plug the pump in and your rock garden fountain would be ready.

 What if you do not have the means to undergo the massive expenses for building yourself a fountain, there are other ways by which you can build yourself a fountain with the minimal cost and have for yourself a fountain that would have the same calming and aesthetic effect of any other fountain, indoor or outdoor. Follow this guide for building for yourself an extremely cost effective fountain with a simple object that is available in almost every household and if it is not at your home, you would be spending very little to purchase it; this is a large pot. Yes, you can actually make a very simple fountain using only cement or even a terracotta pot and nothing else for the outer decorative structure of the fountain. You would however need one such terracotta or a cement pot which is waterproof, and the fact of the matter is that these pots will obviously not be waterproof so again you’ll have to waterproof the pot yourself. This you can do using some simple waterproof sealer. Now, after you have found for yourself the perfect pot with which you will build your fountain, you need to go on some shopping errands. You might wonder that a shopping spree can only result in a lot of expenditure but read on to find out how low the shopping list will cost you, besides the few absolutely necessary items you will not be needing much else. The first thing that you will need to buy for the fountain is the submergible pump. There are a few things you have to be absolutely careful about when you are purchasing the pump. You need to make sure that the pump you are buying is the submersible kinds, and should be able to pump water for the fountain when submerged under the water. Secondly you also need to make sure that the size of the pump is the right one to fit into the pot that you have selected for the fountain. The size of the pump should not be too small or too big; the ideal size of the pot that you should select for making the fountain should be as big as to hold about three gallons of water and accordingly the pump should also fit the pot. In fact if you visit the right kind of Hardware or Home Supply Store, they might even be able to provide you with all the information that you need for matching the pump’s size with the pot that you have selected. After you have bought the pump, the next important item to buy is the waterproof sealers that will be making your cement pot absolutely water proof to withstand the constant contact of the  fountain with the water. Besides the waterproof sealer you will need a Drill Masking tape and another important component for building the fountain, a silicon sealant that would be used to seal off any holes etc from which the water from the fountain might drain out. Also, do not forget the tubing or the pipe that you will need to make the water circulate inside the fountain and also a decorative pot stand or pot feet that can be used to place the fountain inside the house. These necessary items are definitely not as expensive as they sound they are and they can all be purchased at any local hardware store making your task of building the fountain all the more easy. Now, after you have bought all the things on the shopping list, the first thing you need to do to get started with the building of your fountain is that you need to decide where you will place the fountain inside your home. These fountains are actually great indoor decorations because they are not as big to be greatly noticeable outside, while indoors they provide the room with the right kind of serene water feature that you might need. However when you are positioning the fountain make sure that you place it near some electrical outlet where you will have to plug in the fountain as the pump will need some kind of an electrical supply to work with the circulation. After you have decided where you want to plug in the fountain, you can start with the actual building process for the fountain. Firstly, you will need to waterproof the fountain. Use the waterproofing sealer that you bought form the hardware store and apply it completely on the inside of the pot that you are using. This coating must be thoroughly and completely applied and also should be allowed to dry for at least about three hours so that you can be sure that the sealer will make the pot water proof from the inside. After this step, comes a little harder step where the fountain’s plumping is concerned. As you know, you will be having to place a pump inside the fountain so that the water inside can be circulated using the pump, so there is definitely going to be a chord involved which will have to pass through the pot and connect the pump to an electrical outlet outside. So the chord has to be able to go through the pot and reach the electrical outlet outside and for that you have to make sure before you start  installing eth rest of the fountain that the pot has such an exact provision. So check first if the base of the pot has a hole to allow the chord to pass and if the hole is actually big enough for the chord to pass through. Either way, if there isn’t a hole at the base or if the hole is too small for the chord then all you have to do is drill through the base and make a hole that is big enough for the chord, in such pots when you are drilling a hole use slow speed on your machine when you are doing so. Now, after you have made the hole, the tricky part of placing the pump in the right way comes in. Firstly to start with you need to place the pump inside the pot at the bottom, after you have done the placing of the pump; you will have to get the plug and the chord through the hole at the base and out of the fountain. When you have the chord outside the pot, don’t immediately start pulling eth entire chord out of the pot, do that to most of the length of the chord but keep a bit of it inside. This length of the chord that will remain inside is to accommodate the pump inside the pot comfortably when it is slightly raised from the base of the pot itself. Also, do not plug in the chord of the pump into the electrical outlet outside of the pot immediately after you have pulled the chord out, you need to start building the fountain and after it is complete and ready to start running, it should be plugged in for the fountain to function. Now, after the pump has been placed and the chord has been pulled out of the hole, the hole needs to be sealed well so that the water that the reservoir of the pot will be holding for the fountain should not allow the water to leak out of the spaces around the hole from which the chord has been pulled out. So use the silicon sealant for sealing this area and this should make the pot completely airtight so that the pot is well functional as a reservoir for a fountain.  Also, leave the pot alone for a day without trying to do anything else to it after you have applied the sealant so that the seal is dried up well and does not cause any leakage problems later on. Also, even after the one day of leaving your pot to dry with the seal, test the hole for leakage by filling in the pot with a few inches of water. If after this you are sure that the water that you have poured in has no leaks, and then you can fill in the base of the pot with some pea gravel which is also easily available at hardware stores. So when you let your sealer dry for the day do this additional shopping of getting your fountain some pea gravel. This pea gravel when filled in little bit at the bottom of the pot will raise your pump when you place it on top of the gravel, the raise needs to be little and not too high though. Another thing you will notice is that the chord that you have pulled out will of course be dangling underneath the base of the pot, and most chances are that the chord will be crunched and pinched by the pot base. To avoid this, you have already bought the pot feet; place the pot on top of this and the electrical supply to your fountain should be unhindered. By now, your fountain is almost complete. All you really need now is to connect the pipe that you bought at the store to the pump that should be circulating water. The pipe should ideally be about an inch and a half and so the pipe should not at all be sticking out of the top of the pot. It should be just below the rim. After this step, you can be happy with yourself as your budget friendly simple fountain is ready to be used, all you need to do is pour in the water into the pot and finally plug the electrical cord into the pump and your fountain will be ready to run. The best part about these fountains which you can make out of simple pots at home is that you can paint and decorate the pot exactly the way you want it. If you want your pot fountain to match the décor of your room you can paint the fountain exactly the way that you want witch whatever colors you choose and you can decorate it with many things as you wish. This may not always be possible with other kinds of fountains. In most other kinds the fountains come in custom material and color and you can only hope that the colors go well with the room that you will be placing the fountain in; but in this case, this inexpensive pot fountain can actually be the best decoration to blend in or stand out in the room that you place it in.

If you are looking for easier ways to make your indoor fountain instead of looking for expensive objects to decorate your fountain with, there is in fact a great way to  decorate your home by adding a little country charm to your room if you can take some time out of your schedule and use some of the simplest things that are available in your home and better still, items that are available at your local flea market, so you wouldn’t have to travel too far and by this you can perhaps also figure out that the price range would also be very low for all the objects that you would need to create your fountain. The basic structure for the fountain would only need a simple copper kettle or a tea pot or something similar to build your very own simple fountain for both in your rooms or even for the outdoors in your garden or patio. To make such a fountain you would not even spend more than an hour over it and you can enjoy the tranquilizing sound of smooth trickling water for a very long time. However there are a few things that you need to make a list of and buy specifically before you can start making your fountain, so make a good list for the shopping part so you can be sure that you don’t need to keep running around for the specifications for building your coffee pot fountain. Usually the best material that is suitable for building a coffee pot fountain is a copper one and so the first thing that you should buy for yourself is a coffee pot, make sure that the pot is the right size that you desire out of a fountain in your room or for the outdoors, so buy accordingly. So since the pot is going to be copper there are few other specific things that you will need and those should be of copper as well. For example, the copper planter that you would need to place underneath the copper pot, so this planter too needs to be made of copper along with some copper hooks that you can use to hang your fountain with. Also, the tubing that will be used for the circulation of water through the fountain also needs to be made of copper; when you go shopping for these items including the copper tubing, ensure that the tubing is at least four feet in length. Apart from these when you are visiting the hardware store for these objects for the fountain, also pick up some plumber’s putty that you might need during the course of building the fountain also you will need some plastic tubing as well. About six inches of that should be enough in the construction of your fountain. The next important item that you need to buy a must, without which your fountain very literally will not run at all, is the submersible fountain pump that you will need to install for the water to keep circulating throughout the fountain, this pump  needs to also be of the right size so buy the pump only after you have picked the kettle or the coffee pot already so you would know which pump would fit into the kettle and what would actually be proportionate to it. All of these items on this list of requirements for this project are available online on various sites, these online businesses are actually perfect to buy your fountain pump from as you will find various special companies that specialize only in the sales of such fountain parts and those would be the best to buy from for your own fountain project. Also there are lots of auction sites online from where you can shop for the coffee pot of your choice; there will be decorative ones and ancient ones and the likes that would be perfect according to the décor of your room. In fact you can also choose to use a ceramic pot for the fountain instead of a copper one if you think that would be suitable and in this case too it would be better if you stick to the copper tubing and the copper hooks as those would be best suited for this kind of a fountain. Now, after you have selected the coffee pot or kettle for your project and collected all the objects that would be required; it is time that you begin with your project. So for starters, begin by sealing off the planter. If you have a copper planter which should ideally be the case, seal off all openings and holes except of course the mouth of the planter with the plumber’s putty that you must have purchased. This kind of sealing is important as the planter will be the one which would act as the main reservoir for the fountain and if it has any kind of hole or opening then there is bound to be leakage from the planter. So after you have followed the whole procedure that is needed of you to do well with the sealing process which involves letting the putty dry; you can move over to the next step however make sure that the putty is dry and the planter is well sealed enough to avoid any kind of leakage. The next step that you would have to follow may sound a little complicated but is rather easy to do. What you have to do is take the copper tubing that you had bought and make it stand against the planter that you have just sealed off. Wherever the tubing is touching the inside of the planter fix it to the planter there with some adhesive and let that adhesive dry as well so that the tubing gets well fixed to the inside of the planter. However, ensure that the adhesive that you use for the fixing of the tubing to the planter is a waterproof one. If the adhesive is not waterproof then the tubing will not be able to withstand the constant connection that the planter will have with water that will be filled in, so this water proof feature in the adhesive that you use is very important for the fountain to be a success. Now comes another complicated procedure. Before you start off with this one you will require two simple objects that are again easily available around your house. You will need a brick and a sturdy rubber band; the brick that you will need should not be very big and should be able to fit inside the planter and so look for the appropriate size when you go searching for the brick around the house; also the rubber band that you will need should be sturdy enough to withstand the constant abrasion caused by water so choose the rubber band that you will use also accordingly. Another thing that you will require is a stocking, which again is easily available; this too should not be too flimsy and also should be of some neutral color that can be used for the fountain as it might be visible the stocking should not look too absurd amidst the otherwise rather pretty fountain. So what you first need to do after you have all these objects in place is to cover the pump that you will be placing inside the planter with the stocking that you have just collected; this is done to keep your pump as secure as possible from outside debris and impurities as much as possible. Next, you would have to attach the pump that is pre-covered with the stocking to the brick that you have recovered. This is where the sturdy rubber band comes in; you should use the rubber band to attach securely the small pump to the brick that should again not be too big for the planter where it will soon be placed. Before you place the brick along with the pump inside the planter you would need to first make sure that the plastic tube that you had bought is attached to the pump, the tube would be required to spout out the water in the fountain that the pump would be circulating. After you have secured the tube to the pump you should then brace the pump, which also means the brick to the copper tubing that you have already  attached to the inside of the planter. However, attaching the copper tubing and the pump should be done carefully. Basically, the plastic tubing should be going through the hollow copper tubing and for that the pump needs to be placed in a particular position so that the plastic tube can be fitted through the copper one. If you find that the plastic tube is free and loose within the copper tube, then secure the plastic one to the copper tube which is outside of it with a waterproof adhesive as you do not want the pipe to be loose and moving about, actually even duct tape would be sufficient to secure the two pipes together. Your next step would be to position the coffee pot well. You will have to make use of those copper hooks that you had purchased initially for this. Take one end of a hook and clasp it into the copper tube, which itself is wedged against the six inch plastic tubing that you just attached with adhesive. Now hold your coffee pot and attach it to the hook or rather hand it from the other end of the hook which is not wedged into the copper tubing of course. However the coffee pot should be hung in such a way that it is tilted at an angle and it faces over the planter; that is its spout hangs over the planter for pouring water in. there will be a point where the coffee pot too will be in contact with the copper tube and actually these both need to be secured together so that the coffee pot doesn’t get loose too soon, and so you should attach the coffee pot to the copper tube as well and do this with some kind of adhesive that holds, preferably the waterproof adhesive. However you will notice that since the coffee pot is secured at an angle, there will always be a tendency of the pot to keep moving until it is completely secured in place by the adhesive so until that dries up use some kind of a duct tape or something similar to attach it and keep the coffee pot in place till the adhesive dries and secures it in place. That was actually your last step before your fountain becomes ready to be used; now all you have to do is fill the planter as well as the coffee pot with water and then plug in the electric chord for the pump to start working and you will have created your coffee pot fountain; which makes for a great indoor as well as outdoor decoration.

 One can actually use something as simple as even a ceramic pot to make a lovely fountain with close to no expenditure for your home or as a great Christmas gift. Actually, many people face the problem of wanting desperately a water fountain as a great addition as decoration inside their homes but most are too expensive to purchase or even the kits to make the fountains out of are sometimes very expensive. However, ceramic pots are one kind of object that are easily available around the house and with a few other additions from outside you will have a cute fountain that makes for a great table top fountain in hardly any time spent. The basic requirement for a fountain such as this would be some old canister made of ceramic material that you might have lying around at home; however make sure that the ceramic pot that you select does not have any drain holes as that would only cause the water from your fountain to drain out. Besides this requirement for the basic structures of your fountain you would also need a pump that would help your fountain function, any aquarium pump will also do as long as it is submersible and has some kind of facility for the attachment of tubing. Also, to add to the decoration of the fountain you can use some colorful shells and rocks that should however be cleaned well before you use them for your fountain. This is because the water that will be used for your fountain cannot practically be changed on a regular basis, the result of that is that if the water becomes dirty for some reason very quickly and you don’t change it then the dirty water can cause damage to the pump that it would constantly be in contact with not to mention the harm that such water can cause to the surface of the fountain as well. Most people best advise others building fountains to use distilled water in fact and that should not be polluted in turn by the dirty decorations that you might be using for the fountain. So after you are done collecting or buying all these things that you will need to proceed with your building of the fountain you can start with the first step. Remember that the ceramic pot or canister or bowl that you have selected should as a rule not have any holes or openings on the body of the structure, also just like the decorating rocks and shells were not supposed to be dirty, the ceramic pot too should be cleaned well before it can be used for making the fountain; for all the same reasons of keeping the water as clean as possible. You then have to put in the rocks and shells that you had  collected at the bottom of the pot; double check that these items have been well cleaned before you finally put them in. you should arrange the rocks and the shells in such a way that the pump that you are going to use for circulating the water should be resting on them and should be just below the rim of the pot or bowl, so you can check the height of the mount of rocks by placing the pump and you can add or remove a few according to where the pump reaches below the rim of the pot, the jet of the water of the fountain should be able to reach a little high up above the rim of the pot for it to function as a fountain. After this all you need to do is connect a tube to the pump, of only a few inches just so that it can act as a spout to the fountain and can run the water over the rim of the pot. Once you have done all these necessary arrangements to get for yourself the look of the fountain that you desire you only have to fill the pot in with water for the fountain to start running, of course where you place the fountain is again very important in the sense that the pump that will be functioning will need an electrical outlet for it to run. So the pot should not be placed too far away from an electrical outlet but instead as close to one as possible.

You can actually make very simple fountains using a few ceramic pots into a tiered fountain that are great for keeping outdoors. Such tiered ceramic fountains are best suited for gardens and make very good decorations along with bringing the much needed tranquility that is bound to be felt that comes with the sound of trickling and running water; as you know fountains also act as natural humidifiers. So why wait when you can make your own tiered fountain. Usually buying such tiered fancy fountains can actually cost a lot but using some simple objects that are easily available at local hardware stores and Dollar stores and some you might even find about your home you can make a simple fountain for a very low cost price. So, for the basic structure of the fountain you will need three ceramic pots. These pots which will create the outer structure for your fountain, since they will be placed in a tier formation should be in sizes that are graduating. This means that you will need one large ceramic pot that will form the reservoir or the base basin for the fountain where all the water will be collected and then circulated to the top, then you will one medium pot that is slightly smaller than the larger one that you bought and top most you will place the smallest pot. However the difference in the sizes of the pots should not be too sharp, but in fact should be mildly graduating so that the flow of the water through the tiers of the fountain look well coordinated instead of just falling. Also, when you are picking the pots for yourself, make sure that the medium and the small sized pots have drainage holes that will be needed for some of the water to be carried to the top by the pump which will be placed inside the reservoir. However the largest pot which will be the reservoir should absolutely not have a drainage hole at the bottom as there will be no pipe to be put there but instead all the water that is supposed to collect in that will simply leak out. However, if you find that the largest pot that you absolutely want does have a drainage hole at the bottom and you cannot do without that particular pot or maybe you cannot find one of the right size, then you should first seal off the drainage hole using some kind of silicone sealant before you start with your project. Make sure that no water is leaking out of the hole by testing the pot with a few inches of water after you have sealed off the hole. The pots themselves can be of any kind that you want, according to the way you want your garden to look. You can either buy all the three ceramic pots of the same kind and design or you can get them in contrasting colors, that depends entirely on your choice in the color and design combination of your fountain. After you have bought or yourself the three ceramic pots, do not forget the silicone sealant that you will surely need for many reasons throughout the project, so this sealant which is completely water proof is absolutely necessary. Besides this, you will also have to purchase some chicken wire and some plastic tubing. Another very important component to get your fountain to be up and running is the fountain pump that you will need. This pump will have to be of the submersible kinds that will be able to circulate water when it is submerged under water itself. These are quite easy to find in hardware stores, so you wouldn’t have a problem looking. Also, when you are at shopping for the things you will need to build the fountain, also pick up some small to medium stones that you can either collect from around the house or you will also find them in aquarium supply stores. Whatever you do, just make sure before you start building the aquarium that these rocks are well cleaned, maintaining the cleanliness of the water in the fountain is absolutely important for your fountain to have a long successful life. So before you begin with the building of the fountain, make sure that all the objects that will be going inside the fountain are clean, also check that the largest pot that will form the reservoir for the fountain does not have a hole, seal it up and let the sealant dry for sometime before you begin with the rest of the procedure. After the large ceramic pot has been sealed up, you should lace the fountain pump inside it, but make sure that the pump has been placed in the center correctly. After the pump has been carefully centered and placed, cut a piece of the plastic tubing that you had bought; when you are cutting this piece make sure that the piece is long enough to stretch from the pump itself to about six inches further, after you have cut it, let it hang over the rim of the pot and this would also help you measure and make sure that the tube runs about six inches from over the lip of the pot. Then attach this tube to the top of the pump, there should be an outlet for the overflow and one end of the tubing needs to be attached to this part of the pump while the rest for the time being can hang from the edge of the pot. Even the power cord that will be leading the electricity from the electrical outlet outside to the pump inside the pump should be hung over the edge of this reservoir ceramic pot. Next you will have to cut enough of plastic tubing to create the water feed tube from the pump to the other pots above the reservoir. For his, you will have to measure the length properly so that you can figure out how much of the plastic tubing you need to cut. Firstly you must measure the distance between the top of the reservoir large ceramic pot and that of the pump; then measure the heights of the other two pots that is the medium sized pot and the smallest pot separately and then add them together and also add the distance that you calculated between the pump and the top of the large pot, so by adding all these three figures together you will acquire the exact length of the plastic tubing that you will need to cut to form the water feed tube. Once you have cut this length of the plastic tubing attach it to the water feeding valve that will be present on the pump and most of the plumbing that is required for building the fountain should be taken care of. Remember the chicken wire that you had bought? It will come in handy now; you need to create a sort of mesh or a cage out of the chicken wire that you bought and protect  the pump with it by surrounding the pump with the mesh, this is done to protect the delicate pump from all the rocks and shells that the pump would be surrounded by that might possibly end up damaging the pump. All the three chord and tubing that is the water supply tube, the overflow tube and also the electrical supply cord can be brought out through the chicken wire mesh itself and the pump will run just fine. Your next step would be to make the water feeding tube stand erect and straight so that it can reach to the pots that will be placed over the bottom pot where the water feeding tube originates from. So what you must do to carry out this procedure is to fill this bottom reservoir with rocks, these can be of any kinds that you find and like but just make sure that these rocks are not more than about an inch or two inches below the top of the pot, the rocks should not be filled absolutely to the brim of the pot; however you need to be very careful while you fill the rocks in, while you are doing so you should also hold the water feeding tube to the center and straight so that the rocks fall around it and finally when you are done, the tube will be centered and held in place by the rocks that surround it. After this is done, you can place the medium pot over this reservoir; however the placement of this pot needs to be done carefully as well. Before you place this one over the large pot, you must first push in the water feed tube through the drainage hole that is present at the bottom of this pot; so that the water feed tube comes out from the top of this pot. Now you can place this pot on top of the rocks that you have covered the base pot with; however remember that since this pot will be smaller than the large reservoir it might not be placed right in the center, but that will completely ruin the linearity of the fountain so when you are placing this pot on top of the lower one, just make sure that this too is placed on the center of all the rocks that have formed a bed for the pot. Also, your work is not completely done till you seal of the drainage hole completely; this of course needs to be done after the water feed tube has been passed through this hole and it is done so that the water from around the hole does not leak out, because even though the feed tube might pass through the hole there might be some minute spaces around the hole. So use the silicone sealant again and seal the hole well and let it dry for as long as it is required to not allow any more leakage. After you have done this, you have to follow the same process that you did with the largest ceramic pot also with the medium sized pot; you should start by filling in rocks while holding the water feed tube straight and centered so that the feed tube comes out straight and stays in place with the addition of rocks inside this medium sized pot, finally with the smallest ceramic pot as well, push the feed tube through its base drainage hole and then cover up the surrounding spaces around this hole using a silicone sealant and let it dry. So with the medium and small pots too follow the same plumbing steps that you did with the largest reservoir pot as well. After you have completed this step of the plumping part of the fountain, constructing your own ceramic tiered fountain is almost done, now all you have to do is cut off the feeding tube for the water that must be jutting out from the top of the smallest pot on top, make sure that you cut off enough so that there is at least about two inches of the water feed tube below the top rim of the smallest pot. Then you can fill in this pot with rocks as well, surrounding the water tube so that it is nearly covered. Your work of building this tiered fountain is actually now complete and all you have to do is fill in the bottom reservoir pot with water and plug in the pump into the electrical outlet outside and your fountain will be in function. The building of your ceramic fountain is really that simple.

There is no better way actually to add to the beauty of your garden or patio except by using flowers and some water feature, and what better way to club these together except by using flower pot water fountains to add to the beauty of your deck or garden. You might find that if you go looking for such a flower pot fountain, they might not exactly suit your budget. But instead of doing all that you can always just build your own flower pot fountain using the simple things that are available around your home; not only will such a project be cost efficient for you but you can actually design the  fountain the way you want it and color it and decorate your fountain in exactly the style that you like, suiting the décor of your home or your garden. So, for a project such as this you will need to visit the hardware store for a few supplies, all of which are comfortably available everywhere. So your shopping list should include the buying of three flower pots since you can try making this fountain of the tiered style. However the three pots that you buy or find should be of a graduating diminishing size, this means that if you are buying three flower pots; one should be a large flower pot and the other a medium and the other a small flower pot so that the fountain is easy to build and will be symmetrical in the look and the function as well. Besides the flower pots you will also need a submersible water pump that will do the actual function of the circulation of the water in the fountain; so be careful about the size of the fountain pump that you purchase; it should fit the largest flower pot that will act as the reservoir for the rest of the water for the fountain; so always buy the pump after you have bought the flower pots so that the size of the pump and the pot can be proportional. Besides the pump you will also need a pump hose and some plastic tubing for the fountain as well which can all be purchased at the hardware store. Also, another important component for the fountain is the sealant that will be required in every step of the way. So do not forget the sealant that should also be completely waterproof to be of any use for the building of your fountain. After you have bought all this, so not forget to get yourself some sturdy flower pot stands, these can be made of plastic but they should be sturdy enough to hold flower pot for a long time, buy two of these and make sure that the quality is good or else the fountain might collapse completely. Now, before you start with the first steps that you are required to do for the construction of the fountain, make sure that all the three flower pots that you are using for your project should be thoroughly cleaned. Unless these are clean do not attempt using them for the fountain as the water cannot be changed often in your fountain and unclean water would damage the pump that is so important to the functioning of the fountain. After you are sure that all the pots are clean and dry, you can start with the building of the fountain. First of all, another thing that you need to make sure when you are buying the flower pots for the fountain is that these pots should have holes for drainage at their bases. It would be preferable if the largest of the pots that you are using and which will serve as the base and reservoir for the fountain does not have a drainage hole but if you do not find one like that or of the right size then you can go ahead with buying one with a hole, but the other two smaller ones as a rule must have drainage holes at the bottom. So if you find that the biggest pot does have a drainage hole then what you can do best for it is seal it with the silicone sealant that you must have purchased from the hardware store. This sealant will take some time to dry and make the pot absolutely free from leakage but this step is important as the reservoir pot at the bottom should not have any drainage holes to prevent the water from escaping from the fountain. Also, what happens usually with these outdoor water features is that the water starts to evaporate very quickly and easily especially because they are placed outside. So if you want to prevent excessive evaporation so that you do not need to keep changing the water from the fountain, you should paint this bottom largest fountain or you could even the cover the outside of the pot with sealant as that would prevent the evaporation from taking place and also if there are any cracks etc. that you perhaps did not notice earlier on then those would also be taken care of if you cover the outside with the sealant. After the flower pots are taken care of, you should firstly place the pump at the bottom of the largest pot that will be the reservoir for the rest of the fountain. This pump as you already know should be submersible and also should be of the right size for fitting into this pot. Make sure that the opening in the pump that takes in the water from the surrounding reservoir is completely free from all obstructions and it can freely take in the water to carry out the circulation for the fountain. Now, you would have to attach to the pump the long plastic tube that you had bought. This tube will be attached to the top of the pump that will circulate the water to the rest of the fountain from the pump itself. However this thick plastic tube should be cut at some point so that it is of the same height of the fountain. You can measure this length by measuring the height of the other two flower pots and then cutting off that much from the length of the tube (from the point where the tube crosses the rim of the largest pot where it has already been attached to the pump). However, when you are cutting off the length of the pipe, make sure that the pipe is a little shorter than the total height of all the flower pots as you would not want the pipe to be jutting out of the top most pot as that would also jet out the water from the pump to a high extent. So now you have created for the fountain the feed pipe that will supply water to the rest of the fountain. Also, you will find that the pump will have an electrical cord that needs an electrical supply outlet where it should be plugged in to work. This cord should be taken out of the pot and from the back of the fountain you can let it rest till you are done with the fountain and you can plug it in for the fountain to start running. So also remember when you are deciding on the placement of the fountain that it should be positioned in such a place where there is an electrical supply outlet for the fountain to be plugged in easily. Without this electrical supply the fountain will not be functional. Now, you will require to place one of those flower pot stands that you bought inside the bottom flower pot on top of which you will have to place the medium sized flower pot. So, when you are buying these flower pot stands you must be careful about their size as they should be small enough to be placed inside the largest flower pot and one should be small enough to be placed inside the medium sized flower pot on top of which the small flower pot will be placed. However, it might so happen that you do not find any such flower pot that is of the correct size to fit into the flower pot, then all you have to do is find some bricks that will bring up the height of the flower pot that is being rested upon it and those should do the work well enough for the flower pot stands themselves. The height of the flower pots being placed above each other should be such that the base of the medium flower pot is hidden at least by an inch by the top of the largest flower pot, which should be the height that the flower pot stand or even the brick should hold the flower pot to. If you find that the stand is of the right size but it is much higher than it is required to be, then simply cut off its legs and place it inside the flower pot simply like that to achieve the desired height for the flower pot above it. So now, you must place this medium sized pot on top of the stand and make sure that the positioning is done firmly and is centered between the largest flower pots. This is when you’ll realize how important the right diminishing size of the pots is; the brim of the medium sized pot should be smaller than that of the largest pot because the water should cascade down the pot above the largest one gently rather than splashing about when it falls over the pot when it overflows. The graduating down of the water from the pot above to the larger pot below should be gradual and smooth. However remember one thing when you are placing the medium pot over the stand or the brick, that the water feed tube that the pump is attached to should also pass through the bottom of the medium pot, so for this pass the plastic tube through the drainage hole at the bottom of the medium pot when you are placing it on top. Also make sure that the tube that you have passed through the hole at the base of the pot fills in the drainage hole completely or else if there is even a little space or even just for safe keeping plug in some silicone sealant in the hole so that you can be sure that no water will pass through that hole and spoil the proper working of the fountain. Just make sure that the sealant that you purchase is 100% silicone, one that is completely waterproof or else the seal will not be as affective and water might possibly even leak through the pot. After you have successfully placed this flower pot and pulled the water feed tube through the bottom of this pot as well, you can place the smallest pot on top of the medium one in a similar fashion that you carried out with the middle pot. Firstly you will have to place the stand or brick at the bottom of the middle pot and then by pulling the feed tube through the base of the smallest pot you will be able to place the smallest pot on top with the feed tube finally open on top. Here too, the bottom drainage hole through which the tube has been pulled up should be completely secured using sealants so that there is no fear of any kind of water leakage. Even if you want to add any more flower pots to the fountain to make your fountain appear taller you can do so but the flower pots that you use have to be gradually smaller in size, but you also have to make sure that the fountain is not too tall for the pump; if the height of the tube that is used for the pump to supply water to the top is too much the pump might not be able to supply water to the top of the fountain at all. So calculate or at least have a rough estimate as to how high the power of the pump will be able to supply water to the top of the fountain and accordingly buy that many number of flower pots and remember to measure the water tube pipe from before depending upon the height of your fountain for the length that needs to be cut off from the top. There is really no hard and fast rule as to the number of flower pots that you can actually use for your fountain. Now more or less after having placed the flower pots on top of each other you are done with the construction of your fountain and it is ready to run. However, before you plug in the electric supply and start with the running of the fountain be sure that all the sealants that you have used in all the different pots have all dried up sufficiently and be sure that when you add the water to the pots the sealant does not give way. So now you can start adding water to your fountain. You will of course first of all have to fill in the bottom reservoir pot with water completely and then switch on the pump by plugging in the cord that you pulled outside to an electrical outlet that is nearest to the fountain. How the fountain will work is that the water that is there inside the reservoir will have to be pumped out through the plastic tubing that has been passed through all the pots and the water is supposed to spout out from the top most pot. When you initially start out with the running of the fountain, fill in the bottom reservoir with water first and start the pump so that the water comes out from the top of the fountain, then start filling in the other pots on top with water as well; stop filling water into the pots when you see that all the pots have been filled with water and the water is overflowing from the pots that have been placed on top of the base pot. This means that your fountain is now fully functional. So now you can enjoy the serenity that comes with having a beautiful fountain at home and it is even more enjoyable when you make it yourself. However for the proper functioning of your fountain without any major problems, you will have to first and foremost take care of the pump as without it your fountain will stop functioning. The best way to ensure that your pump is running well is by keeping the pump well submerged under water at all times. The pump should not be allowed to run dry as that would only majorly damage it. So that is the reason why systematically you should keep filling in some water into the fountain as a lot of water is actually lost through various means such as through evaporation etc. when the fountain is in operation.

 If you are looking for something different to decorate your home with, you might find that an old urn fountain would suit your taste well to add a Mediterranean look to the decor of your home or garden. These old urn fountains can actually be quite a pricey piece of decoration to buy for your home and if you find that these do not fit your budget, here is a guide to help you make one on your own and decorate your home with it. The best part about making an old urn fountain on your own at home is that you can select exactly the color and the texture etc of the urns that you want instead of relying completely on what is available at stores. Instead you can select the color o the urns that you will use according to the decor of the room you will be placing it in and so it can be completely to your liking. Also, these are not very difficult to make yourself. Before you start building your urn fountain, there are of course a few things that you will have to get hold of that would be required for building the fountain at your home. The most obvious things that you would have to get for yourself are the Ceramic Urn and the Ceramic pedestal bowl without which of course you will not be able to achieve the desired look for your urn fountain. In fact a large ceramic bowl will also be needed, so choose three of these objects from a home supply store or any other place such as an online auction site from where you would be able to choose those that suit you best. Apart from these most obvious objects that you would need for the construction of the basic structure of the fountain, you will also need a few other things that will help you in the actual building of the urn fountain. So visit the local hardware supplies store for a Masonry Drill if you do not already have one; besides that gadget you will also need some bit and the most important object for your fountain to be successful, the submersible pump. This submersible pump is in fact one of the most important component that goes into building your fountain, as the submersible pump would be responsible for all the circulation of the water that should be taking place inside the fountain. Such pumps are in fact readily available at hardware stores, but if you have an aquarium supply store or even a garden supply store you will find these pumps available there as well. There are a variety of sizes that these pumps are available in, but it would be most advisable to go in for the smallest size of such pumps for a project such as this. Also, while you are at the hardware store, pick up some caulk and a caulking gun for building the fountain as well. The ceramic urns and bowls that you have to choose, you will find come in a variety of earthy tones and country textures, so you will find that there is a wide range of selection and choice for you and you can go ahead with what best suits your taste and the décor of the garden or even the room where you would be placing your urn fountain in. however, there are a few things that you need to remember when you are buying these urns and bowls. The pedestal bowl that you will have to buy will be forming one of the tiers through which the water will be flowing down from the urn on top of it. This pedestal bowl should have a hollow basin that will be enough to hide the pump that you will place inside it, therefore it would be best if you purchase this pedestal basin after you have already bought the pump, so that the ratio of the sizes will be exact and accurate for your fountain and placing the pump inside the basin will not be a problem for you. On the other hand, the ceramic urn that you purchase should also have to be in a certain proportion. This urn should obviously be smaller than the pedestal bowl but should be in a certain ratio where the water that flows into the urn will make it overflow with water quickly and that will subsequently flow into the pedestal bowl. If the urn is too large then the water might spill out of the fountain completely instead of falling directly into the pedestal bowl below the urn, so you need to be careful about the sizes that you purchase. Therefore even the buying of the urn should be done after the pedestal bowl has been purchased so that you have an estimated idea of what size your urn should be. The large ceramic bowl that you have bought will be the actual reservoir which will store the water for the fountain that will be circulated by the pump; the pump therefore will be placed inside this ceramic bowl while being covered by the hollow base of the pedestal that will be placed on top of it. This large ceramic bowl that you purchase therefore should also have a flat surface which will be able to hold the pedestal that will be made to stand on top of it. All the three ceramic objects as you must have guesses by now should have the same material and texture and color etc to look coordinated enough for the fountain to be constructed out of it, as later after the completion of the fountain the urn and the other parts will give the appearance of belonging to one piece. After you have arranged for all these bowls and the urn etc., it is time now that you start with the building of the fountain. Firstly, you will have to start off by using the masonry drill and the bit to drill holes into the base of the ceramic pedestal bowl that you have bought. You must be careful while drilling these holes; one of these are being drilled to allow space for the power cord for the pump to be let out which will be supplying the pump with electricity once it is connected to an electrical outlet outside. So this hole should be quite large, you should actually make a rough estimate of how big the hole should be according to how much space you think the power cord will take up. The next hole that you will need to drill should be right in the center of the bottom of the pedestal. This hole will be to accommodate the plastic tubing that will be supplied with the water pump. Incidentally, if this tube is not given with your pump, buy a certain length of sturdy plastic tubing that will act as the water feed tube. So this hole that you have drilled at the base of the pedestal will be to allow the plastic tube to pass through. After you have made a hole large enough for the plastic tube at the bottom of the pedestal, you need to drill in another hole at the base of the urn as well, this too should be sufficiently big for the plastic tubing to pass through it to the top. After you have done all the drilling of the holes, you should now make preparations for the placement of all the objects that are required for the proper functioning of the fountain. First of all you would have to start with placing the pump at the bottom of the large ceramic bowl. After you have placed the pump, inside the bowl, make sure that it is properly centered and then cover it with the hollow base of the pedestal. However, when you are placing the pedestal bowl over the pump, also make sure that the plastic tubing passes through the base of the pedestal as well, that feature is very important. Also make sure that the power cord of the pump is not being pinched or obstructed by the base of the pedestal. After the tubing has slid through the bottom hole and the pedestal is resting on the pump, seal off the spaces around the hole through which the tube has passed to ensure that there is absolutely no chance for the leakage of water through the hole, this is where you can make use of the caulk. Follow all the instructions that the manufacturer would be supplying you with regarding the usage of the caulk and you should also give enough time for the caulk to dry before you start with any of the other steps. After you have given enough time to the caulk to dry and you are sure now that no kind of leakage and seepage can possibly take place through the hole that the tube uses to pass through, you can continue with the other steps. Now, you have to position the urn equally as carefully as you did with the pedestal bowl. You will have to make sure that the plastic tubing has also slid through the hole at the base of the urn so that it comes out through the top. Here too you will have to caulk around the hole through which the tubing has passed so as to make the urn also water tight without allowing any of the water to seep through that hole. You will also have to allow enough time for the caulk to dry after this step as well. However, after this step is complete, your old urn fountain will be ready to be up and running; all that is left to do is to fill in the base ceramic bowl with water, after the water has been filled you will have to plug in the pumps cord to the external electrical supply and then turn the pump on. Very soon the water from the bowl should fill up the urn on top as well after being transported through the water feed tube to the top. But you will have to keep adding water till you find that the water in the urn has started to overflow and flows into the pedestal which is positioned below it. The water from the pedestal should also overflow and fall into the ceramic bowl that is located below it. Only when this happens, you will know that the quantity of water that needs to be circulated through the fountain is right and you can now stop pouring in more water into the fountain. Your fountain is now complete and you can enjoy the serenity of the old world charm of an urn fountain in your home.

If you are looking to create the cozy atmosphere of the country in your garden or your patio, there is no better way to do so except by using an old country water feature  such as creating a water fountain out of a wine barrel. You will have the same oasis of peace that comes with having a water feature such as a fountain in your garden and it is made better by using a genuine old wine barrel for a fountain. Such a fountain made out of a wine barrel is actually quite easy to make if you carefully follow this given guide and very soon you can have your own fountain for achieving that country look for your garden. There are some very important things that you will firstly need to buy for building the fountain, so before you get started you will have to go hunting for a few of these, while most others you will find easily at any hardware store. For example, you will have to get hold of a wooden wine barrel or even half a wine barrel that will make the outer basic structure of the fountain. For the inside of the barrel you will also have to get yourself a wine barrel liner. Another very important feature that is needed for your fountain to be in function is the water pump. This has to be submersible so that it can be used for the circulation of water when it is placed under water inside the fountain, so buying this is very important or else the fountain will not function without this at all. To go with the pump you will also need a pump hose or the plastic tubing that will be attached to the pump and act as the water feed tube for circulating the water being pumped, also get yourself a water hose that you will require apart from the hose being attached to the pump. You will also need a fountain head to achieve the desired effect of a running fountain and along with all that you will also need some bricks and stones and a bubble leveler. Once you have arranged for all these necessary objects, you can start building your wine barrel fountain. To start off, you will have to decide the right position where you will be placing your barrel fountain, if you want a half barrel you can even cut a full barrel into half carefully and it will work the same. Anyhow, the position that you select for the fountain has to be done carefully as the fountain should be placed where there is an electrical outlet nearby to which the pump will be attached by a cord, the pump cannot function without electricity. In fact after you have built such a wine barrel fountain it will not be possible for you to move it around much; thus you have to fix the position carefully so that you should not have to change your mind constantly. So even if you have decided to place the fountain in your garden which is the usual position for placing such a fountain, make sure that it is not under direct sunlight as that would only cause more evaporation and that would mean that you have to constantly keep filling up the fountain with water; and also make sure that the fountain is positioned where there will a possibility of easy algae growth in the fountain. So choosing a position for a garden fountain is very important. Now, the next step is the right kind of protection for the wine barrel. See what condition your wine barrel is in. some wine barrels are really weathered and old while others are only made out to look so. If the wine barrel is actually old then you will have to use the plastic wine barrel liner inside it; but you can forego it if you realize that the condition of the barrel is alright and it is not as old as it appears to be, this choice is completely up to you. Wine barrels even though they may be an old concept are designed in such a way and are built out of such a material that they do not usually allow any water or wine to leak through its surface, so you can be sure that there will not be any water seepage from your fountain when it is in a good condition but these wine barrel liners are used for those barrels that are old and weathering to avoid leakage and actually they also help reduce any kind of evaporation that might take place through the barrel. Now, before you start, you will have to saw through one end of the barrel anyway; even if you want a full barrel because you will need an end free through which you will build your fountain. So even if you place the wine liner inside the barrel you will first cut the end of the barrel before you proceed. After all this is done; you will have to start off by placing those bricks that you collected at the bottom of the wine barrel. These bricks should be stacked up to a height of at least two inches from the base of the barrel. This is done so that the pump can be placed on top of these bricks to which the water feed tube will be attached which will help circulate the water. The pump is kept raised slightly from the bottom of the barrel so that the water that is sent up using the feed tube attached to the pump will not pick up debris and other dirt that may end up harming the fountain and the functioning of the pump in the long run; not to mention the filter that might also be harmed by all the debris and dirt that the tube might pick up. After this, you will have to connect the tube that will act as the feed tube for the water to be circulated to the top of the pump using whatever means of attachment that has been provided, which is usually a clasp. What you should be careful about when you attach the tube to the pump is that the tube is long enough to reach to the top of the wine barrel so that the water of the fountain also reaches it. Now the only main thing left to do is to attach the fountain head that you had purchased. This should be attached to the top of the tube and should be at some height above the top of the wine barrel for good measure. Depending on the type of fountain head you are using and the height of the wine barrel itself, the height that your fountain head reaches above the barrel will depend on that. There is actually no fixed height that the fountain head is supposed to reach. After the fountain head is attached, your wine barrel fountain is ready for use and now all you have to do is fill in the barrel with water. You can do this by using a garden hose and after your barrel is filled with water you can attach the cord that is connected to the submersible pump to an electrical outlet nearby. Even if the cord needs to be stretched it is alright but make sure that there is not any kind of obstruction to the flow of electricity or the cord is not being pinched anywhere by something placed on it. After the pump is electrically supplied your fountain will start running; you can adjust the fountain head according to the spray that you want from the fountain and the height of the spray etc can all be adjusted using the fountain head. After this, your wine barrel is completely ready for use and you can enjoy the beauty and tranquility of a wine barrel fountain in your garden. However, remember that there will be some amount of evaporation from the fountain for which you will have to periodically fill in some water into the fountain.

If you want an easy way to make your own fountain for your home or even as a gift with some of the simplest things that are available around your home, there is no better kind of fountain than to build one with a wine bottle. This is not at all absurd and as you read on you will realize just how easy the whole idea is and how simply you can add the simple tranquility that comes with the sound of water flowing over rocks and stone. There is actually very little that you will need before you start this project and not to mention hardly any expenditure; you will find that most of these things you already have at home. For instance the main body structure of the fountain will be built out of an empty wine bottle so you will need one of those. You will also need a big Ceramic bowl inside which you will have to place the wine bottle like a stand; this Ceramic bowl can be the same design and color as that of the wine bottle or can be the exact opposite as a contrast, whatever may be the case the best part about making these projects yourself is that you can choose your own colors and designs as per your taste and the décor of your room. Besides these, you will also need a pump; this pump has to specifically be the kinds that are used inside fish tanks etc. the kinds that function when placed under water; these are also known as submersible water pumps. This pump will do the actual function of transporting the water and circulating it through your fountain. You will also need from your local hardware store some caulk or similar seal that is 100% water proof. Besides these, you will also need some stones and marbles that are colorful and will look nice as a part of decoration for the wine bottle fountain as well. Now, after you have arranged for all the required materials for making your fountain; start off by cleaning all the objects that you have gathered. This includes all the rocks and the pump and the wine bottle itself which must be thoroughly cleaned; if not they might have some residue or debris left in them that will soon dirty the water that can harm the fountain and its parts in the long run. After you have everything cleaned and ready, you can start with the first step. Start off by making a hole at the bottom of the wine bottle. This hole is made so that a tube can be pushed through it which will transport the water up from the pump into the bottle so that the fountain can function. This hole at the bottom of the empty wine bottle can be formed using whatever technique you like, the best way however to do it is using a hammer and a punch to break through the glass and make a small hole. However, in most likelihood the hole that will be made in glass will not be exactly the size of the feed tube that will pass through it, glass usually does not break that precisely. It is for this reason that you will have to build a path on the hole itself. What you can do is use a plastic bottle cap and punch a hole into its base which should be exactly the size of the tube that needs to be passed. This cap with the hole in it can be sealed over the hole at the bottom of the bottle using the caulk or the sealant that you had purchased for this project. After you are done with these preparations for the pump, you will have to install the pump and the wine bottle properly over it. The patch that you have created will have to go over the pump with the feed tube going through the hole in the cap and subsequently through the hole of the bottle as well. The pump itself will be needed to be placed at the bottom of the big pot that you had bought with the wine bottle placed over it. However the wine bottle should not necessary be centered but should instead be tipped a little to one side of the pot. From the other side that will be facing the back wherever the fountain is located, the power cord that connects the pump to an electrical outlet outside will have to be dragged out of the pot and let it hang loose outside the pot till the fountain is ready to be used when it will finally be plugged in. After this step is complete, your intention would be to make sure that the wine bottle inside the pot does not move as it is actually lose inside the pot. To help with this you will have to fill up the pot entirely with the rocks and marbles that you collected. Surround the wine bottle with these colored rocks which will also serve as great decoration making the fountain colorful and they will also help in holding the wine bottle and thus the fountain in place. After this step; there is actually very little left to do. Now you only have to fill in the water into the pot. Initially when you are pouring the water into the pot do not turn the pump on. The water should by itself flow into the wine bottle as you keep pouring more water into the pot. After you have filled the pot completely with water to the brim; turn the pump on to start your wine bottle fountain. Now the water will fill the wine bottle and then flow over the top of it and flow right back into the pot; your wine bottle fountain is ready. If you are worried about the power cord showing and not looking as nice as the rest of the fountain then you can always cover up the cord using some foliage and other decorations that could also enhance the beauty of the fountain.

There is one kind of a water feature that is most common in homes where they are a fan of the tranquilizing sound of water; wall fountains. If you are among those who enjoy such a simple water feature, then it might interest you to know that you can very simply following only a few steps build a wall fountain for yourself and your home. Wall fountains are perfect to be positioned anywhere in your home, whether in your garden or your living room and it is always a bigger joy if you can make these wall fountains yourself. Also, the things that you will need to build the fountain are all easily available at almost all hardware stores or any Home Improvement shop as well. So before you start with the building of the fountain at home, there is a list of things that you will have to buy for the construction of the fountain. From your nearest Hardware store; get a cement backboard that will form the basic structure of the fountain. You will also need some glass tiles, mortar, grout, trowel, float and sponge all which are essential for the building of the fountain. Besides these, from the hardware store itself you will have to get for yourself a Riser tube and a water release head. The most important thing that you will have to buy from this store would be the Recirculation pump which would be responsible for the function of the fountain by recycling the water through the fountain. Also get yourself a reservoir basin which would be holding the water that has to be circulated through the fountain. Gravel and water are two necessities that again you would have to collect and keep for the functioning of the fountain. Now that you have arranged for all the objects that you will need for building your fountain; first thing that you need to do to progress with the building of your fountain is that you need to find for your fountain a particular suitable spot in your garden where you plan on placing the fountain. If you have decided on locating the fountain in your garden, the best place to do so would be against a fence that is located in your garden; this is mainly because the fence post that will be there would come in handy for attaching the wall fountain to it. Even if you do not have a fence post to attach the fountain to, you can always  get one built which will hardly cost you much; on the other hand most of the wooden fences that are built already have wooden fence posts as well. In any case if you do not already have a fence post or supposing your fence is not made of wood but is in fact made of brick or stucco then follow these simple steps to make for yourself a fence post to which you can attach your fountain. What you have to do is dig two holes, one on each side of the fence; these holes have to be around six to eight inches deep, then you very simply slide in a lumber into the hole and your fence post will be ready for use. So after you have built the fence post for yourself you should first measure the distance between the posts so that you will have an idea of how much of the cement board you need to cut which will be hung between the two posts for the fountain to be built on. The most common size that the cement board is cut into is five feet high and two to three feet wide, but it might vary a bit depending on the distance between the two posts. After you have estimated and cut that length and width of the wall for the fountain it is time for you to apply the mortar on the cement board for which you can use the hand trowel that you bought. After the mortar has been applied it is time for you to create the actual decorative base for the fountain for which the tiles that you bought will be required. Start placing the tiles on the mortar in a horizontal way. A great effect to create for such a wall fountain is the effect of the sea or the ocean for this you should get yourself different shades of blue and green tiles. So when you are placing the tiles next to each other make sure that the colors alternate make sure that no two similar colors should be placed next to each other. This kind of a pattern creates a beautiful effect of the sea. After all the tiles have been properly fixed to the surface of the boards apply some grout on the tiles themselves using a float. If you want to give the board which is covered with tiles a clean and neat finish, dip the sponge that you had in water and wipe away the grout that might have accumulated on the tiles in excess before the grout dries up. This done immediately before the grout dries will give the board the much preferred clean look. After the tiles and the look of the fountain is taken care of, now you have to deal with the reservoir basin which will be holding the water that will be circulated in the fountain. This basin actually needs to be selected carefully; it should not be too small or narrow but instead should be as wide as the cement board or better still about an inch wider than the board at least so that the water from that would be falling down the board will be able to collect directly into the reservoir below before being circulated back to the top. Now, comes the hard part with the placing of the reservoir basin. For this, you will have to dig a hole in the ground, this hole must be of the same depth as that of the basin so that it can fit into it, however certain that be the hole is as close to the wall in the ground as you can possibly make it. After the hole has been taken care of; place the reservoir basin inside the hole and then the pump inside the reservoir basin for this part of the construction to be done. Now, the riser tube along with its release head that you had bought have to now be fixed to the pump so that they can recycle the water that the reservoir basin receives back to the top of the wall. The riser tube that you finally fix to the pump should be fixed to the wall as well so that the water is carried there, but make sure that the tube is fixed to the wall from the back and so is the release head. This head should be at least an inch above the wall from where it would be releasing the water that will flow down the front of the tiled wall that you had created some time back. These riser tubes along with their release head are quite  available at hardware stores especially those which specialize in selling fountain supplies; however you can even have one made custom designed based on the measurements of the fountain that you have built so that the contraption is just right for your fountain. After you have fixed all this, it is time that you ensure that the pump inside the reservoir does not keep shifting as that would cause the riser tube and the release head to also move which would disrupt the smooth flow down the front of the wall. To keep this in place, you should place some gravel surrounding the pump in the basin which will be able to keep the pump in place; this gravel can be colorful rocks as well matching with the colors of the tiles that you decorated the wall with. Another thing you need to be absolutely certain about before you finish the project is that the water from the release head that will be flowing down the wall should happen in a certain aligned and smooth manner, for this you will have to make use of the bamboo that you were supposed to buy. The usual size of a bamboo that is bought needs to be cut into half, this means that you have to make sure that the bamboo is at least three feet wide. After you have done this, puncture a few holes into the bamboo on only one side when the bamboo is aligned to its width so that when the bamboo is fixed with that side down towards the wall; water will flow down that side. The bamboo in turn should be placed right on top of the wall so that it covers the release heads and can be attached to the fence posts. You will have to fix the bamboo to the fence posts or the poles of the fence with screws if possible and then align it against the wall so that it faces down where the water will be able to flow down through the holes. After this bamboo is taken care of in this way; most of your work is actually done. Now all you have to do is fill in the reservoir basin with water completely after which you can turn on the pump. Once the pump is on water should be directed from the basin up to the release heads and then through the bamboos over the wall. You might have to make some adjustments to the bamboo and the release head after the water starts flowing and you’ll know exactly in which direction to place the holes. So your garden wall fountain is now ready for use.

If you want something different for your garden in terms of decoration, there is a choice for installing for yourself a lovely Mexican fountain, which make for great center pieces for decoration in your garden. The fountains are made with some special motifs and designs that add bright colors and a different kind of design and look for your garden whether it is large or a small garden. These fountains come in all kinds of sizes so you can have one that is in proportion with whatever size your garden is; the features that make these Mexican fountains different from the rest is that they combine the styles of native Spain and Native American architecture and design to create such pieces of beauty. However, installing one such Mexican fountain in your home or garden can be quite heavy for the pocket when you necessarily do not have to buy one. They are not very difficult to build by yourself if you have all the required materials for building it and that will definitely also cost you much less. Even when you are building such a Mexican fountain the objects that you will need are mostly pre-functional which you will just have to combine together to produce the right kind of design for the fountain. Initially you will need some kind of a water fountain. For this you have to choose the right design that will look best as a themed Mexican fountain. The most popular kinds of Mexican fountains are actually wall fountains that are quite simple in design and are often referred to as Spanish mission fountains; so you can go for such a simple wall fountain which has a Spanish look to it. When you go for such a design try going for one that is made of pottery that means clay and the likes instead of some other material as that is the basic kind of Mexican fountain. The design should be simple no doubt but must have the following features; there should at least be a large basin at the base of this simple fountain, there must also be some kind of a spout at the top of the wall fountain out of which the water will flow out and finally there should be a smaller basin in between the spout and the large basin underneath where the water will flow and then trickle into the large basin below it. After you have decided which fountain you will transform into your Mexican styled fountain you will have to add the Spanish styled colors to the fountain as well. The usual colors that are associated with the ancient Spanish culture is blues and white; besides those two there is also the colorful paring of turquoise with red which also gives a bright desert feel to the fountain as well. Also, you can do one of two options for the color of your fountain; you can either paint the fountain with a good quality water proof paint or you could even cover it with tiles attached with mortar to the surface to bring out a similar effect; but if you are painting then you should make sure that it is in water proof quality or else the color will surely not stay for very long because of its constant contact with water. Also, if you want to create an authentic Mexican feel to your garden you should pick absolutely vibrant and joyful colors for the fountains in a nice pattern that will reflect a Mexican festival mood. For the decoration of the fountain, you must be careful yet be generous with the decoration itself. The way you color and decorate your fountain is the key to reflecting an authentic Mexican feel to your fountain if you want to be authentic in the Mexican style for your garden fountain. Research a little on the kind of designs and motifs that are usually used to design any kind of architecture that belongs to that culture. You can even add suns and other Aztec signs and religious symbols and even pictures to make it look more authentic. In fact the drawing or picture of the Virgin Mary is the most popular symbol that is used to decorate an authentic Mexican water fountain with, so you can also make use of this symbol. Once they decoration and designing of your fountain is taken care of, finish off your project by adding some cacti and other desert plants around the place where you have positioned the Mexican water fountain. To create the best atmosphere for your garden if you wish to stick to that theme would be to add more Mexican art and decoration to your garden besides all the decorations and art that you have added to the fountain itself. This way along with the Mexican fountain which will be the center of attraction for your garden the entire space will assume a lively Mexican feel.

There is a great water feature that is so easy to make at home that you might just begin to start making too many of them to gift other people; these are actually floor fountains. These are simple to build and very easy to move around and are great water features to have as decoration inside your home. You basically need to get and collect all the important materials and objects that will help you build the fountain and when you have this you can easily build one for yourself. For the basic structure of your floor fountain you will need one big rectangular planter of terracotta, and also a sheet of plexi glass. This will help you build the basic structure of your fountain. Besides this you will need another important item without which your fountain will actually not quite function, this is the fountain pump which is one of the most important features for your fountain. Such pumps are easily available at hardware stores or better still at stores that sell supplies exclusively for fountains. Besides these, you will have to visit your local hardware store for some Plumber’s putty and some waterproof sealant or adhesive which is very important for the proper function of your fountain. Also collect four bricks and small river rocks for the completion of your floor fountain. Once you have collected all these items from the hardware store and wherever else that you could get your hands on these objects, you can start with the first step of building your floor fountain. Begin by gluing down the river rocks of small size that you collected onto the plexi glass. You can use that waterproof adhesive that you were supposed to arrange for to attach these river rocks to only one side of the plexi glass, however leave about six inches from the bottom free from the rocks on both ends. Now, on that bottom of the Plexi glass where you haven’t stuck the river rocks, glue with the same waterproof adhesive two of the bricks that you collected on either ends of the glass; do the same to the other two bricks on the other end of the Plexi glass so that you have four bricks on the four edges of the glass attached to it with water proof adhesive. However make sure that you give the adhesive sufficient time to dry as per the rules mentioned by the manufacturer before you proceed with the next steps. After this is done, the stand for your floor fountain will be ready. Next, you will have to work with the reservoir which will be holding the water that is going to be circulated in your fountain. The rectangular planter made of terracotta that you were supposed to get hold of will act as the reservoir for your fountain here. So since it is supposed to contain all the water that the fountain collects and then again recycle it and send it up, you need to make sure that the planter is completely water tight. So in order to make your terracotta reservoir completely water tight, seal any openings that there might be in it with the plumber’s putty that you bought; this should be done after a careful inspection of the reservoir so that you can be sure that every opening in the reservoir is taken care of and it is ready for the constant contact with water. After your reservoir is ready make the plexi glass that you constructed as the stand, rest inside the rectangular reservoir this way the stand for your fountain should be well fixed with your reservoir so that the basic structure for your fountain is ready. Now the plumbing part of your fountain should be taken care of. For this, you will have to fix the plastic tubing that usually comes with the pump to the pump which will act as the water feeding tube for the fountain. So once this plastic tube is attached to the pump place the pump inside the planter so that it works for circulating water inside the fountain and position it behind the plexi glass so that it can  remain out of view but continue to work its function. Now you will have to fix the feed tube that is already attached to the pump up the back of the plexiglas so that it runs up and comes out from the top; however you should be careful about the length of the pipe as it should end right above the place where the river rocks have been placed. For this, you can cut the plastic tubing if required to achieve the desired length for it. You will however have to again attach this tubing to the back of the plexi glass and also the river rocks with the adhesive that is water proof so that the tubing remains fixed and does not keep shifting positions while it is supposed to supply water to the fountain. Another way that you can also attach the tubing to the river rocks on the plexi glass is to start working on it right from the beginning when you started attaching the river rocks on the plexi glass then you could have used the tubing and hidden it amidst the rocks when you were fixing these. However if you take this route for fixing the water feed tube you would have to use copper tubing instead of plastic as that would be stronger and a safer bet against breaking and tearing of the plastic tube while fixed within all the rocks. Your fountain is now more or less ready to be used as the structure and plumbing parts of the fountain is now taken care of; if you wish to hide the pump and the bricks on the plexi glass that may be visible you can do so by putting in some river rocks that you might have as left over inside the reservoir itself. Now, all you need to do is position the fountain in the right place in your home where there is an electrical outlet nearby to which the pump’s cord can be attached and then just fill up the reservoir with water and your fountain will start running. You can now enjoy this easy to make floor fountain along with the soothing and tranquilizing sound of running water over stones inside your home.

If you are looking to beautify your swimming pool, there is really no better way to do this except by adding to it a floating fountain or even a fixed one. These are great fun for kids to enjoy themselves with in swimming pools and also a beautiful addition to the pool as a whole. Follow these quick easy steps to learn how to attach one to your pool. First, decide on the kind of a fountain that would best suit your swimming pool. You have a choice between a floating fountain that is actually great fun for kids and you also have the option of a affixed fountain; actually you can convert a floating fountain into a affixed one which is usually always the case when you want a fountain feature for your swimming pool. You will find a range of these fountain apparatus’ at home improvement stores and you can even auction for one of these on the internet. On the internet you will find a vast variety of online companies who will sell you such fountain apparatus’ for a very low cost and if you can find a good auction site then the cost might just be even cheaper for a beautiful floating fountain for your pool. These come in a set package form and they will include all the things that you will need to set it up you just have to get it delivered or carry it to your place. Also, if you intend on converting the fountain to a affixed one for your pool then you will need a fountain anchor to hold it down. The whole job is actually pretty much done for you. All you have to do is fix the fountain in your pool. Before you do so make sure that your pool is filled with at least ten inches of water so that you can set your fountain afloat. Gently float the fountain of course on the flat side of it on the surface of your fountain and your floating fountain will be ready for use for you and your family to enjoy. However if you wish to convert it into a fixed fountain then you will have to use the anchor to attach it to the fountain. Very simply, the anchor will have to be attached to eth base of the fountain and it will just hang down towards the bottom of the pool and in this way hold the fountain in place. Also, if you fix the circulation rate of the fountain at twenty two gallons every hour, then it will oxygenate the pool too for good measure. So, now you can enjoy the serenity of a fountain in your own swimming pool.

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However, even though you may have grasped all these simple ways of making your own indoor fountain as a great decoration for your home, you may be worried about all the plumbing complications that go into making a fountain; you need not worry about this aspect at all because the plumbing part of building a fountain is not really a complication at all, in fact there are a few simple steps here that you can follow to create your own fountain and plumb it yourself too with ease if you are having difficulties trying to follow the more direct ways given above about the plumbing for the fountains. The most important thing that you would need for plumbing for your fountain is a small pump, one that would be big enough to fit into any container or a bowl or a  pot etc, also this pump should be of the submersible kinds, one that functions when placed under water to circulate the water that is around it. These pumps will not be hard for you to find as they are easily available at most hardware stores, if you don’t have a hardware store nearby even a store selling garden supplies will do just fine or better still stores that sell things for the aquarium will also have such a pump. Now, when you are searching for the ideal pump for your fountain you need to look for the following features to make sure that the plumbing part of the fountain that you are making is taken care of. These features will include the necessity that the pump should have suction cups so that the pump is able to hold itself steadily inside the basin where the reservoir for the fountain will be made. Of course we do not want the pump to be floating around in the water, so the best thing would be that the pump stays stationary and still and for this, those suction cups are very important. The next important thing that you need to make sure that the pump has is a regulator for the flow of water so that the amounts of water being circulated in one go is taken care of, so that your fountain does not end up splashing water around on guests etc. Also, a regular indoor fountain that you would ideally be constructing should be able to pump out round about eighty to eighty five gallons of water every hour and so when you are buying the pump make sure that this feature is also specific to the pump. After, you have selected the pump for your fountain; you need to purchase the next important feature of your fountain plumbing system- the pipe or the tube. The selection of the tubing is also simple and you do not have to worry about going wrong with the tubing either. The best tubing that would be perfect for your fountain would be one that is made of plastic first and foremost and one that fits perfectly over the pump spout that would be pumping out water, so you should ideally test out the fit of the tubing over the spout of the submersible pump that you have already bought for the fountain. The usual measurement of such  tubing that is required for fitting onto the spout of a pump is about half an inch on the inside and about five by eight inches on the outside of the tube to fit right onto the spout and work well with the pump. Do not go money-minded on the tubing at least and since such tubing is not expensive go for a little extra which you can always cut after fitting into the basin or the bowl that you would be using. You never know how much you would actually be requiring unless you start with your project. Next step to ensure that the plumbing goes well for the fountain that you would be to make sure that the container or the basin that you pick is absolutely perfect for the fountain, basically the material of the container can be anything as long as the material is water proof enough to withstand the constant water contact because of the fountain. In fact you can even convert a simple punch bowl or even other household items such as a dish into a reservoir for your fountain, you basically need some kind of a bowl or basin that is at least two inches deep and that should serve to be enough for being the reservoir of your fountain. The next step is actually the most fun in constructing your fountain, which is now, you have to start searching for something to decorate your fountain with, and most preferably such small indoor fountains are decorated with stones that are easily available. In fact you can even go searching for these stones to decorate your fountain with around your house or in your neighborhood or even a place that holds some fond memories, there you can pick up some stones for good measure and decorate your fountain with these. In any case these decorative stones are found in plentiful in shops that sell landscaping materials and goods and also in shops that sell aquarium requirements. In any case if you decide to use the stones and rocks that you pick up on your walk and from around your house you need to be sure that the rocks are well cleaned before you use them as decoration inside your fountain; if they have impurities then they might end up polluting the water inside your fountain and this will not do as the water you will be using for the fountain will be circulated over and over again through the fountain several times before you actually change it or all of it is evaporated, and if the water becomes dirty soon then it can harm the pump that keeps the fountain running and even the surface of the fountain and not only all that but the aesthetic look of the fountain itself will be ruined, in fact most people would advise you to use distilled water if not anything else.

Now that you know how to build the most popular kinds of garden fountains, and that  too so easily you should also know ways by which you can keep your fountain from harm’s way at all times. If you’re working so hard on building your fountain you should also know ways by which you can keep it protected, even during winter. This Winterization of your garden fountain is very important if you want your fountain to last as long as it ideally can. So in order to maintain your fountain well you need to start preparing to take care of it even before the first freeze sets in. this method however is applicable only to the outdoor fountains that need special maintenance during the winter months. Winterizing your fountain is actually essential because otherwise you will notice that your fountain surface begins to crack or the pump and the pipes will start to crack etc. The best possible step to take to keep your fountain protected for the winter months would be if there was an option for you to dissemble the entire fountain into its various parts and then place the whole thing well covered in your garage or barn or shed. But this might not be an available option for everyone, so for those who do not have a garage where they can store their fountain during the winter months, here is a plan devised for you. The first thing you should do to protect your fountain is anticipate the first freeze of the current winter season, once you have a rough idea of when the first freeze would be approaching, completely drain out all the water from your fountain an let it dry for as long as it needs. The, you need to bring the pump out and store it indoors. The pump is a much smaller object that can easily be stored inside the house without any hassles; in fact you can also give your pump the annual cleaning that it needs to remove any accumulated minerals and debris that may have been caused due to the constant flow of the water in the fountain. However there are a few things that you need to keep in mind when you are storing your pump indoors. You should store it actually in a bucket sort of a thing or any other basin or plastic container that would be able to store a small amount of water as well along with the pump. The gasket should not completely dry out, that is your main intention and so you should store this bucket full of water and the pump in a warm region where the water won’t freeze and the gasket of the pump wont dry out. In the meantime for the rest of the fountain that would be left outside for the rest of winter, you should get yourself some kind of a cover like a tarp or those specially made fountain covers that are also available. Also, whatever cover that you use to shield your fountain in the winter you must ensure that the cover is either tightly fitting over the fountain or if it is lose then it should be held very securely as the worst situation would be if the cover flew off. These fountain covers are essentially perfect because they fit well over the fountain thus protecting it perfectly from the cold outside. You should thus keep all this in mind when you first construct your fountain as well. You should not position your fountain in such a way that in the winter months, when the fountain will be left outside protected only by a tarp or a fountain cover, your garden and your home inview doesn’t get spoilt. Instead the fountain should be located in such a place where the fountain with the cover through the winter months will do nothing to ruin the beauty of the winter scene of your garden either. Also, before you throw that tarp over the fountain, you have to do something else as well. You will need to fill in the basin or if there are more; then the basins of the fountain with some burlap sacks or some other such cloth materials like some old rags will also do. Basically, the condensation during the winter months that has a chance of accumulating inside the basin should not happen as that could ruin the surface of the fountain and cause it to crack. This would be the normal case because of the expansion and contraction processes that would be occurring if there was constant contact of the fountain surface with some kind of moisture or condensation. However, a common feature of most concrete and stone fountains is that there will be some number of hairline cracks that will occur over a few years of roughing it out in the winter months; however you need not worry too much about these cracks as they are basically superficial cracks and will not cause the water in your fountain during the summer months to leak out. Thus, if you are able to follow all these instruction while keeping each step in mind, your fountain should be able to survive many a winter months. There have been people who live in very cold states of the country and they have been able to enjoy their fountain in the summer time while taking proper care and ensuring maintenance during the winter months and the fountain have lived a long and beautiful life. All you have to do is ensure that the steps given here n the plan should be followed so that your fountain stays safe during the winter.

 Like we were talking earlier about the sound of running sound being easy for putting your child to sleep you can actually test this theory out and install a fountain in your child’s bedroom. For parents who have trouble putting their children to sleep this is quite an easy way of making sure that the room is at least tranquil enough to induce sleep for your kids. Also, fountains as you may know are natural humidifiers. So if you are living in an area that is dry and hot, the fountain might be able to create a soothing and cool effect for your kid’s room; another great advantage is that fountains are known to also keep surrounding air clean by attracting dust particles that are afloat in the air to itself. You do not even need to worry about maintain the fountains in your child’s bedroom. As mentioned before there are available chemicals that you can add to the water to prevent algae and bacteria from developing in the water thus making it absolutely anti-toxic for your family and there is also treatments available for the anti-white scaling of the water. These are both economical treatments so you do not have to worry about great expenditures. Also, the chemicals are not harmful for your child or pet even if your child does manage to get to the water. When you place a fountain in your child’s room however, keep it preferably a little away from the reach of your child so that they do not manage to break it or damage it. You could keep it on a high table from which you can fetch the fountain whenever you wish and clean it and treat it or fill water into it. However do not keep the fountain in such a place where you either forget about it or you’re just too lazy to bring it down; this is because if the water level goes too low due to the evaporation, the pump would run dry and then the fountain itself will be ruined. The most preferable kinds of fountains for children’s rooms are the table top or the wall fountains, floor fountains can be difficult to handle with children running around in their room. You will find that there are many kinds of fountain accessories that are available such as foggers and lights that make the fountain look more attractive for the child and can even keep them occupied for a long time. You could even use the same fountain which has lights for illuminating the water as a makeshift nightlight when you need one. There are even those that make nice soothing nature sounds that are great for the end of the day for putting the kids to sleep.
So, now if you are completely decided that you would be decorating your home with a fountain or maybe more small fountains then you need to also be sure of what kind of fountain you would be using and exactly where you should be placing them. There are actually some great tips here that could help you decide on a fountain and consequently help you decorate better with your fountain. What you have to keep in mind initially, and this might not have struck you at get go is that the flow of the water from your fountain should also match eth décor that you would be placing it in. so a smooth flow fountain where the water from the spout flows right into the bowl or the reservoir below the fountain would be best suited for a décor that has polished granite or laminated floorings to accentuate the smooth environment of the entire décor all together. So for your patio or for your living room with this kind of polished and smooth textures as its décor would best be suited with a fountain that has a smooth flow. However if you are decorating your garden with a fountain or a place that has many levels and is decorated in a multicolored way a fountain that has tiers in the sense that it has levels itself with rapids would be best suited. For rooms that have natural stone walls also would be perfect for a fountain that has many levels of water flowing down to complement each other. Also, when you are decorating you need to keep the surrounding in mind in relation to the moisture that the fountain would be giving out. As you know, fountains are natural humidifiers and they give out moisture to its immediate surroundings. So if you have decorated your particular room in such a way that you need to keep the goods away from water damage then a fountain too nearby would only ruin things for you, for example in a room with your paperback collection, a fountain would do no wonders for the books. But instead in a patio where there are small plants surrounding the fountain, it would only add moisture to the air and help the plants and thus would be perfect. Thus you need to be careful of this aspect as well when you are placing the fountain in a particular place. However, the kind of fountain you use also determines the amount of mist and moisture that the fountain would be giving out. A small table top fountain would perhaps not give out much moisture at all, so you can put it on your children’s desk and they could study relaxing in the ambience. If you have a homemade fountain, there will always be the chance of water spilling over while a professionally designed fountain would never spill water over so you don’t have to worry about the danger of that. Another thing to take into consideration is the space that you would be placing the fountain in and eth size of that space. You should not place a huge fountain in a small and clustered room as it would only increase the cluster and make the room appear smaller, not to mention take the beauty of the fountain away from it. Instead for a small space, a relatively proportional small fountain would be best suited to maintain the elegance as well as not seeming out-of-place in the room. In large business offices where there is space for a lot of area there a fountain would add tremendous brand image to the business as well as being a great decoration piece of art. So now that you know the basics of how you should select a fountain for a particular space, let’s make things a bit easier, here are some critical questions that you should ask yourself before you select a fountain for yourself. Firstly, decide what style of a fountain you would like in that particular room. If the décor of the room is of the modern kinds you can accessorize the room with a mirrored fountain or even a stainless steel fountain that would go best with this kind of a décor. Or if your room is decorated in a more natural and homely way then you should get one of those fountains that would accentuate this natural environment such as mall bamboo or stone pebbles fountain. So according to the décor of the room select the style of fountain. The next important question you should ask yourself is the color co-ordination. If you begin to search you will find that the fountains come in nearly all kinds of colors and shades that are possible to find and so you must initially decide whether you wish your fountain to be the central decoration in your room or just an addition. If you want all eyes on the fountain then you need to pick one that is in a color that contrasts every other color or the color scheme of the room. If you want your fountain to blend in with its surroundings to create a more subtle effect then you should select a fountain that has the same color combination and is of eth same shades of color as your room decoration and theme is in. next point to take into consideration is the amount and the kind of sound that is generated from the fountain itself. This actually depends entirely on the kind of pump that is being used in the fountain and also the size of the fountain itself. So the level of sound being generated from the fountain can either be a soft trickling sound of water or it could be in loud splashes as well or somewhere in between. If you are planning on an indoors fountain, the wiser option to take would be to go for a fountain that is relatively smaller in size so that a tranquil soft sound echoes through the house to create a soothing natural effect. However, outside the same sound would hardly be heard due to the surrounding sounds of the rest of the  neighborhood and so for outdoor fountains you should always go for a fountain large in size that creates a louder sound. The next question would be the amount of space that you want your fountain to occupy as we spoke about it before. In an office room or your bedroom, go for a small table top fountain or a wall hanging fountain.  If you have trouble deciding whether you want an indoor fountain or an outdoor fountain, you could decide that depending on the amount of time you spend in what space. If you are more into gardening and spending family time outside of your house, maybe locating the fountain outside would be a better idea, however if you want to cancel outside sound inside your home and replace it with a soothing and tranquil sound inside then an indoor fountain would be best for you. Also, if you love in a dry location, an indoor fountain would add humidity to your room and prove to be quite beneficial. Also, another serious question you must ask yourself before you commit yourself into buying a fountain for yourself is how much effort you will actually put into maintaining the fountain. As a matter of fact, all fountains require some kind of maintenance or the other. However, if you know that you would not be able to put in all the time and energy required to maintain a large fountain then you should just buy a table top small fountain that us easier to clean and easier to maintain for filling up with water etc. large fountains that are basically meant for the outdoors require quite a bit of cleaning and also more expenditure on all the cleaning supplies that would be essential for it to be maintained well, however they do not need to be cleaned as often as the smaller fountains need. Also, during the winter if you have a large outdoor fountain you need to keep it covered throughout the winter or at least keep it well stored in a warm place during this season. So depending on all these factors and the questions you need to ask yourself, you should be ready to get yourself a fountain.
Now, if you are planning on getting yourself an outdoor fountain for your garden, decorating it well is crucial as just having a plain fountain might not even be that noticeable. The best way to make your garden fountain look attractive is by fixing lights on it. However, deciding on a particular kind of lighting, especially if the lights haven’t come along with the fountain when you bought it can be tricky. You have to take into consideration a lot of points before you finally fix the lights in your garden to illuminate the fountain. Most importantly, the shape of the garden and what exactly you want the garden to look like with the lights on. Actually, lighting your garden fountain has to be  done carefully and with a clear picture in mind. A good garden fountain lightening can make your garden look pretty after sunset and make your fountain stand out on the street, however if the lightening job is done poorly and of the colors and the shadows don’t go well together, then the fountain itself can make the garden look spooky if not strange. What you need to be clear about is that externally you cannot really light up the fountain from inside, which is the job of the manufacturers to do. So if you are planning on illuminating your garden fountain you would have to use the kinds of lights that focus on your fountain not the ones that go under water itself.  Si when you decide to look for lighting up the fountain in your garden, you would have to go through outdoor lighting catalogue. Outdoor lighting actually comes in all kinds, including different colors and bulb shapes etc. Keep in mind that if you go for some basic bright lighting such as Flood lights it would not do much to flatter the way your fountain looks, yes the fountain will most definitely be visible at night but the lights won’t exactly create any special effects for the fountain. On the other hand, there are many kinds of subtle lights are available that can be strung around an area that would delicately illumine the fountain as well as the water in the fountain creating special effects with the fountain in your garden. Your main aim to make your garden look pretty at night by using lights is to create a certain kind of illumination around the fountain by making the lights reflect off of the water in the fountain itself. If your fountain is actually large, then it would do you good to not place very bright lights near the base of the fountain, what happens with this is that dark and stiff shadows are created by the body of the rest of the fountain and from far away this creates very ill effects and would only spoil the effect that you are trying with your fountain. Make sure that the lights are strung from a little distance away so that the light reaches over the bowl of the fountain as well as the base to create a more balanced effect. If the fountain you are using isn’t really raised and is situated more towards the ground, then you should place the lights at a higher angle so that the lights are reflected down to the water in the bowl of the fountain and also illuminates the spouts. When you are choosing the type of lights to be used in the fountain; you have to be careful of the colors as well. Colored lights are great for fountains that are located in theme parks and other similar places but you must think carefully before you fix colored lights for the fountain in your garden, they may look rather pretty but sometimes especially in a small garden, these colored lights can end up making the fountain look too gaudy and also may be distracting. Also, colored lights do not really illuminate the garden or the fountain, they merely add to the rest of the decoration. Especially if you are using colored lights in your garden you must be very careful and use them as little and as creatively as possible as colored lights tend to distort appearances as well. A green colored light can make the rocks in your garden look old and porous, red light may make your garden look deeper in the shadows etc. so you must know what colors do what to the textures in your garden and then use them accordingly for the decoration of your fountain.
However if you have a fountain and especially one of those bigger models, be prepared for some troubleshooting. However if you play close attention to the tips we talk about here to maintain that you don’t face unnecessary trouble with your fountain, you should be good to go. So, before you plug your fountain in for the electric supply that would be needed for the pump, make sure that the electrical cord that connects the fountain with the electricity is not cringed or crumbled especially by any decorations inside the water reservoir of the fountain. Many people try very hard to make sure that the cord isn’t visible through the fountain water to make it look natural and thus they might end up covering it up with rocks etc. but this would definitely not be a good idea and instead you should find a better way to hide the cord and keep it out of side, covering it up in this way or cringing it would only prove hazardous. Even if you do not find any such way out to hide the cord just live with it, everybody knows it’s artificial anyway they wouldn’t think you have a natural spring inside your home. It is not worth it to risk your safety for artistic sake. Another point to remember about the electrical cord that you are using is to make sure that you have a “drip loop” created for the water to drip outside the bowl. The water should drip out of the fountain onto the floor and not directly into the electrical socket as that could be very dangerous as you know. If you are planning to not be home for a few days, the wise idea would be to turn off the fountain and then leave. If there is nobody to fill in the water for the fountain, the water level will lower itself and that can always damage the pump. Moreover if the fountain or any such electrically helped appliance is left unattended while in operation you never know what kind of electrical hazard can take place when you are not around t check in on it.
 Also, if you suddenly notice that the pump of your fountain has lessened in speed and in overall performance it is a clear indication that you need to clean the pump and the fountain. There can various reasons why your pump would need a cleaning. It can be because of the plant debris or an even dead insect etc that have collected around the pump and causes the poor performance of the pump. The usual procedure for cleaning the water is to use a small brush or even a light flow of water through the area, however the manufacturer from ho you bought the fountain and the pump should also have detailed instructions on how to clean your fountain. If the filters are damaged and you need to change them then you can order yourself those as well. Also, if the water that is being supplied to the fountain happens to be hard water, then mineral deposits can cause problems for you. If you want to get rid of the hard water mineral deposits on your pump here’s what you should do. Put the pump in a large plastic container or bowl and pour at least a bottle of white vinegar into it. Keeps the pump running in the vinegar for at least an hour that should get rid of the mineral deposits. Then you need to clean the pump and so place it in a plastic bowl of regular water and then keep it running for some time.

The Bird bath Fountain: many people after reading all this about fountains might just run to go get one for themselves, however you might also be among the group who would not like to take the trouble of fixing all those lights and then getting the fountain cleaned. However, if you like the idea of a fountain for your home and the sound of the gentle flowing water, but you just don’t want to get involved in a very complicated structure, and then installing a bird bath would be perfect for you and the way it makes your garden look. There are actually two major types of fountain bird baths; these are the solar bird baths and the other is the electrical bird bath. The solar bird bath is easier to handle and take care of since you can place the fountain almost in any location inside your garden. These fountain bird baths would not require electricity to run but would definitely need direct sunlight so you have to be careful about the amount of sun the fountain is receiving when you place it in the garden. How the fountain works is very simple, it works in the same way that all other solar operated devices work, using a solar panel to capture the sunlight. The solar panel is usually located at a convenient place in the fountain which traps the sunlight and then uses it to empower a pump which recycles he water and helps the fountain function. These fountains are thus low maintenance and you will manufacturers for these who would be able to provide you with fountains of all kinds and designs. The only thing you need to worry about these solar powered fountain bird baths is that the pump at the base of the fountain might end up freezing in the winter time as the solar panel would still be fixed and might try to get the pump to work. So you need to replace the solar panel when winter arrives with something else, maybe just a regular panel so that the pump is not damaged. The other type of bird bath fountains is the ones that need electricity to help the pump function. These are a little high maintenance as you would firstly have to place the fountain in a position that is close to a steady electrical supply and more over whenever there is electricity involved you have to be careful about all the electrical hazards that may take place. These fountain bird baths are perfect decorations for your gardens. They are not as large as the usual commercial outdoor fountains but are easier to maintain and require less attendance. They come in all materials and all kinds of designs and really do look nice for an addition to your garden, your patio or even to the entrance of your gate. The gentle sound of flowing water will automatically attract birds to the fountain.

Commercial Uses

If you do not want to keep a fountain at home and are still enthralled with the idea of one, here are some ways and reasons of using fountains at business establishments.

 If you’ve ever noticed, water tends to bring people closer together. So if you have a space for a fountain in a business establishment, it most definitely would bring people together to gather around the water fountain and have a good time on a summer hot day. Even in a smaller space a fountain would help to bring tranquility to the office and the soothing sound of the water would have it definite effect on the workers in the office, also customers would definitely take quickly to become comfortable in a surrounding that has the soothing sound of water flowing. There are a huge number of interior designers and decorators who would recommend water fountains as decoration pieces in a business establishment. This is because of the large variety in the color and shape and the materials in which these fountains are available, so that they can be fitted into whatever theme and décor that the establishment might be in; there will surely be a fountain for it. Also, these fountains can be custom made, and so if you have a fountain fitted into your business establishment you can always have the logo of the company designed on the fountain that would add to the advertisement of the company. So if you get a stunning wall fountain with the company logo installed in the doorway there would not be a better decoration than that. Best is if you have a large outdoor space outside your business location, placing a commercial fountain large enough to attract onlookers would be a perfect business strategy as well. A great decoration piece such as a fountain is great for attracting the crowds. So if you are running a restaurant or a place where it would help you to attract customers on a regular basis, an attractive commercial fountain would be a very good idea. Another place where you could place your fountain in a business establishment, is in the waiting room. Usually, waiting rooms tend to turn boring with a couple of magazines. Whether it is a lawyer’s office or doctors’ or the likes, to would help greatly to have a serene and attractive fountain installed to kill the boredom. These fountains with its lights and soothing music can be great for those sitting in the waiting room. The best use for a commercial fountain in business establishments is in Spa’s and therapy offices. Since their goal is to help their customers relax, the soothing effects of the fountains seems to help that goal to a great extent. You could use wall fountains in the reception areas to add to the soothing environment and in massage or therapy rooms you could decorate with smaller table top fountains. Even in places where you have lots of kids visiting you can install fun and colorful fountains. Kida would enjoy the lights and the fun music if you incorporate them. In fact there are some manufacturers that design their fountain to make them fish friendly and you can actually have some Koi fish in the fountain and make it into a fun aquarium of sorts. Another great advantage that a commercial large fountain would provide, which is actually quite a practical reason is that these fountains and the sounds that these larger commercial fountains create would help in keeping conversations confidential in business places such as in bank and business consultancies and even in a law firm. The sound of the water would be a great way to keep conversations confidential along with being a great way to decorate your office.
Commercial fountains thus as you can gather come in all kinds, they may be wall fountains, or they can be floor fountains or the ornamental types and you can select the one that fits best with the rest of the décor of the surrounding. A great thing about big fountains is that it helps establish your business as a successful one. Ever seen a fountain outside somebody’s home or an office and wondered how the poor office or family must be making ends meet? Actually no. Having such a decoration makes a statement about your standing where your monetary power is concerned. So if you have a large commercial fountain placed right outside the doors of your office, it will only go to show that your business is running well, for this of course you would also need to keep the fountain well maintained or else it would just look like your company is in downfall. Also, the design and materials that you choose your fountain to be in should also be according to the kind of business that you are running. If your business is a fun family restaurant or a theme park then a colorful and musical fountain would suit the business tastes and is you are running a posh Spa then the kind of fountain you should have installed should also look elegant and sophisticated to go with the other surroundings.

From the maintenance point of view, the fountains that are made of copper and related metallic material need the maximum looking-after; usually to maintain the polish and appearance of the copper material. However, most good manufacturers that supply commercial fountains create the cooper fountains with a “powder coating”. The main reason why this powder coating is applies onto the copper surface is to protect the metallic surface from turning into that dreaded green color. However, if you do not buy the copper fountain along with the powder coat you can maintain the shine and color of the metallic surface by using a car wax that is used for commercial purposes on it, and this needs to be applied to the surface at least once in a few months. The matter of the fact is that copper will turn green, that is a definite process and you cannot really help it. So the only thing that can be done is to use the powder coat or the car wax; these will in no delete the process from happening, it would only be able to slow down the process from catching up quickly. Another thing you should keep in mind if you have a copper fountain and especially if it an outdoor fountain is that copper tends to darken when in direct contact with sunlight. So you must keep all these practicalities in mind when you go in for decorating your business space with a copper fountain.

You could look up the Internet for numerous manufacturers selling commercial fountains and you are sure to find one that would suit your office space and needs perfectly.

Fountain Maintenance

If you already have an indoor or outdoor fountain installed at home or even maybe at your office, you need to make sure that the fountain lasts for as long as you think it is your money’s worth. Also a badly maintained fountain will definitely not look pleasing to the eye as they are meant to be. You might wonder how hard it could be to look after water; but actually it is and it isn’t. If you are regular about the care you take for the water of your fountain it won’t be that difficult at all. There are numerous elements of impurities and even minerals such as iron and calcium that could affect the way your pump and consequently your fountain works. Not only can they ruin and damage the pump but can also alter the appearance of the fountain body as a whole as they are capable of dulling color and material. The best thing to do about indoor smaller fountains to avoid this kind of harm caused by the minerals and elements in the water is to use distilled water for the fountain reservoir. However this would surely not be practical to use for larger fountains and outdoor commercial fountains and so for these kinds it is always a better choice to install a filter to make sure that the fountain is not damaged or doesn’t change in appearance. Talking about the appearance of the fountain, the finish of the fountain is also actually quite important the way your fountain is presented. Different materials are used for different finishes and usually if the fountain is casually looked after enough the finish looks fine as they do not require any additional kind of maintenance. For example, steel and stainless steel finishes for fountains would not require anything more than a sponge wipe or a wipe with a damp cloth if you see that dust has accumulated on the surface or you want it to sparkling new again. On the other hand copper finishes will surely oxidize and form a greenish patina on top. If you want that effect then it is fine, and you can just for the effect to take place or you can even rub the surface with a damp cloth for a faster process. But if you do not like the look of oxidized copper then you should avoid this particular finish as it is inevitable to happen and there is actually no sure way to check the process. You can use car wax or a furniture polish to clean the copper surface and that might slow down the process of oxidation but it won’t necessarily stop it entirely. The fountains on the other hand that have stone finishes would need a little more than sponge wipe to clean it, but they would need some elbow grease to be applied and this needs to be done using a soft brush to remove deposit on the stone of lime or calcium etc. even a lime removal cleaner might be able to do a similar job for the cleaning of the stone fountains.

Maintenance of the pump as mentioned before is a procedure that would require you to dismantle the pump and run it I vinegar and then wash it and place it back. Details of the procedure are explained above in the article. However, you might have to face situations where your pump might stop functioning altogether. But do not panic, just make sure that the water level is full because sometimes the pump might not function unless fully submerged and it is not even the right procedure to run it in that fashion. If the pump however is completely submerged then you will have to retry the starting of the pump all over again by taking it out of water. If the pump still doesn’t work after all this then you would probably have to soak it in vinegar and try running it as mentioned above. However if nothing else works and you know that the pump cannot have died a natural death because it was too early then you need to dissemble it and then check for debris that might have settled inside the pump and then remove it. All the while you should make sure that when you are dissembling etc. you follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully to avoid any kind of damage. Next are the lightings that come along with the fountains for the decoration of the structure and the water. Usually the lights that the manufacturers use for the fountains are the standard bulbs which should not be very difficult for you to replace if required. However if you find that you have to keep replacing the bulbs and none of them seem to last as long as you think they should then there is defiantly a problem. The problem could be that the water from the fountain keeps splashing onto the lights and thus rendering them neutral and damaged. This should not be difficult for you to see to; all you have to do is make sure that the flow of the water maintains its level or just fix the cover over the light that protects it from the water which may have shifted due to some reason. However, the lighting that is placed under the water and is used to decorate the water specially would need a little more care than the other kind of lighting. The problem lies in the fact that water and lights do not gel well as we all know so you need to be extra careful. If there are problems with the underwater bulbs it is best tat you speak to the manufacturers. If you have to end up changing or removing them then you should make sure that you follow the manufacturer’s Manual and also unplug the lights before you change them. Most importantly wear gloves before you touch these lights as you can cause damage to them; most of these lights that are used for underwater decoration are halogen bulbs. All in all, the way your fountain stays depends entirely on the water really. If the quality of the water is bad, it is going to be that easy for the fountain to take a bad turn as well. So it is always a good idea to fix periods within which you should change the entire water in the fountain so that the water remains clean and fresh and would not have any kind of elements that would harm the fountain as a whole. When you are doing this, it might also be the right time for you to take care of the other requirements. For example, clean the pump in case there is some accumulated debris there, also try and give the entire fountain itself a complete cleansing so that the appearance of the fountain is also taken care of.  With this kind of care regime you should be able to enjoy some years of enjoyment without too much of a hassle.

The Great Fountains of Rome:

 With Rome being something of the Godfather where fountains are concerned, there isn’t really a shortage of the stories to tell of the many fountains that are located in Rome. Nearly each fountain comes with its own special story, behind its architecture or maybe even its birth. The period when most of these fountains were constructed, either in ancient Rome or even during the period of the Renaissance, the time was that of artistic and creative brilliance and also periods of intrigue. So here is a brief collection of the history of some of the most popular great fountains of Rome.

In the Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome, there are three fountains that are of particular importance. This is actually a city square where these fountains are located, and all these fountains have a distinct history behind their construction. The sculptures actually that have been crafted on all the three fountain are of great ancient value that are as old as the beginning of the Christian kingdom in Rome is. The largest of these fountains and hence most attractive out of all three is also located in the center of the square. The original plan of constructing this fountain had been Michelangelo’s but it never came about, and in fact had been built several years later when a particular aqueduct could be diverted to it to make a supply of water for the fountain. The original plan, that had perhaps been sketched out by Michelangelo for this fountain had consisted of Jove to be the central figure of the structure, but finally when the fountain was indeed constructed, Minerva who was the figurehead of Rome was made the central piece of sculpture in the fountain. Even recently, the statue of Minerva on the fountain has been attempted at being restored to maintain the glory that the fountain once had. It is in front of this fountain of the Minerva that the second fountain is situated, but this is actually smaller than the previous fountain. It depicts the figures of two rivers gods. The importance in the fountains lies in the fact that these are perhaps the very few treasures of ancient Rome that has still survived, given the way in which many of such precious arts and treasures have been lost ever since the Roman downfall of power. Even though its original location had not been here in this square, in front of the Palace of the senators, but has been originally constructed in a place before the Temple of the Sun, but it looks quite naturally appropriate here as well. The third fountain that is again very popular is a little away from these other two fountains, it can be found in the gardens in Palazzo dei Conservatori.   
This fountain is actually popular because of not being like the conventional fountains that are to be found in Rome; instead it is quite nothing more than a basin for the water to collect and a sculpture that is barely connected to the basin itself. The sculpture is actually noted to have been added later to the basin and that is why it looks obscurely attached. The sculpture, which is of a lion devouring a horse, is not as attractive as the other fountains are but is actually of some historical importance. And actually, the statue is of historical importance because nobody really knows its history, before it was attached to the basin it was found in the River Almo and still has signs of having weathered extreme water conditions for a long time. Because this sculpture is so well constructed, the mystery of its origins is more intriguing than the fountain really is.

The Piazza Colonna in Rome is again another place that has one of the most significant fountains in Rome. In fact it has one of the oldest fountains that were constructed in the modern city of Rome, as opposed to the ancient Rome. The fountain is completely built out of Porta Santa marble and is quite notably old, however the historical and architectural significance lies in the fountain not only because it is that old but also because  of its source of water. Aqua Vergine at the time was the largest and most important aqueduct of Rome. It had been constructed to be the main supply and source of drinking water for the entire city as a whole and thus also became a major supply for the waters of fountains of Rome as well. Because of all the fountains and other supplies that the aqueduct had to cater to, it had definitely become difficult for the source to provide that amount and pressure to the fountain that would make the water het out, the magnificence of the fountain that is why had to rely completely on the architectural and sculptural competence of the architects and the engineers of the time. Not only was the design of the fountain supposed to be great but the engineering that would be involved to help the water jet out high into the air would also have to be executed well. Incidentally the designer for the fountain at the Colonna, a man named Giacomo Della Porta was a man who was not only great at the designing of the fountains but was also a great engineer who could harness and use the water supply to the fountain’s advantage while also on the other hand creating beautiful structures for the fountain. The fountain is hexagon in shape, and served not only the purpose of being a piece of decoration but was also supposed to be a kind of trough that provided drinking water at the time it was constructed as well. Those two sections, the drinking trough and the ornamental basin are actually kind of divided yet joined together using as decorations lion heads to attach the two sections of the fountain, making it ornamental and purposeful at the same time. The fountain has two sources of water. There is al large vase that is located in the middle of the fountain and the other source is two small jet like structures that are located between the central vase like structure and the basin where the water pours into. If you happen to visit the Colonna fountain now you will notice that there are some dolphins and shells on the vase in the center, these however are additional touches that were added to the vase when it was replaced for the original that had been badly damaged. Another important reason for it being one of the most significant fountains in Rome is also because it was used as the Pilgrim’s fountain, for those who cleansed themselves before service because it is located in such close proximity to the Column of St. Paul.

Another fountain which is not normally talked about popularly but is actually quite a site, is the Fountain of Books. The fountain actually consists of books as its central structure, three volumes of books to be precise and a deer’s head along with the rest of the sculpture. It is a unique form of design for a fountain and is worth a stop if you are on a fountain tour in Rome. The Piazza Navona is another spot in Rome that has several famous fountains located there and is a popular tourist destination in Rome. Even the famous Fountain of Neptune is located here. This place because it was so close to the workshops of the artisans of Rome, specifically those who worked with copper, this place was also fleetingly known as the Calderai. The fountain of Neptune actually was one of the first fountains in this place, other than that the decoration of this place was pretty much bare.

Another very popular fountain of Rome is the Porter Fountain. The Porter Fountain very interestingly is also known as the “Talking Fountain”. The fountain represents a water seller for the time that the fountain was constructed and he was dressed the way porters were dressed during those days and he carried a wine carrier in his hand. It was known as the “talking fountain”, because it was used by the rebellious population of Rome at the time to get their message across to the authorities of Rome through their political satires that they used to attach to the Porter Fountain. This was an example of the way that the Roman mass population used to ridicule and oppose their ruling parties and through their humour was able to display their discontent. This was a common practice that was developed by the Romans during the sixteenth century and there were many other statues that were used for the same purpose, and the Porter Fountain’s statue is one such example. The messages that were attached to the statues were either poems, or small political satires or even sarcastic remarks and jokes that were usually made against the Pope. They were attached to the Fountain late at night discreetly before they were taken down early in the morning by authorities.
The Fountain of the Moor if you see it is rather an intriguing fountain with quite unique craving details. It is located in Piazza Navona and it is called the Fountain of the Moor because the sculpture depicts an Ethiopian man in struggle with a dolphin. The sculpture actually depicts four Tritons as well while the main basin where the water pours itself into is made of a special type of stone called Rose marble. It is Bernini who is given the merit of having sculpted the main central Triton which struggles with a dolphin, and the whole scene looks like a moor and hence the name. Now decorated with lights, this fountain that has been restored at much as possible is surely a beautiful decoration to the city.

At the center of Piazza Mattei in Rome is located one of the most elegant decorations in water that was created in the city, and that is the Fountain of the Tortoise. The structure of the fountain was designed by a different designer though the famous tortoises of the fountain were crafted by Bernini himself. There are four youths who are depicted in the structure and they are not angels or divine, but actual humans who are depicted in such a wonderful way, the tortoises on the other hand which were of course added later by Bernini to the sculpture was representative of some sort of tradition or ritual. What that ceremony with the tortoises is actually quite the mystery.

The Wall fountains of the Florentine sculptors are actually another kind of fountain that was particularly popular in Italy. These classic wall fountains even though their rage has disappeared can still be seen in their ancient form on some streets of Italy and a few in Rome as well. These wall fountains were popular in Rome in the ancient days because the city had a great supply of marble that was needed to build these wall fountains. All that was actually needed for the fountain to be built was a niche of some kind, like perhaps the torso of a River God and with that some kind of a basin where the water was poured into. However the sad part is that most of these wall fountains have been dismantled form their locations and their ancient marble has been restored in museums for view.
If you don’t know this already, some of the most important fountains in Rome are the four Great fountains. What one means by this phrase about the four fountains of Rome are really the four great Baroque fountains to be found in Rome. They were all found on an abandoned hill, one nobody from Rome resides in anymore like many other ancient hills that were left abandoned. The statues that constitute the four Baroque fountains were found among the ruins of the baths on the hills but were restored and used for making the statues for the fountain. The Four fountains are actually four figures that together represent the River Tiber, the four figures are that of two male and two female; the Arno and the Wolf both of which are the two male structures and Juno and Diana are the females of the fountain. These statues that constitute the four fountains are placed strategically at a central triangle of the city and actually mark the highest hill of Rome and also the highest point of the hill.

Another brilliant creation in the Piazza Navona itself is the Fountain of the four Rivers as you know in Rome. Another one of Bernini’s masterpiece’s, this fountain is one of the best examples that can be seen today of Baroque form of architecture. As the Baroque form of architecture was supposed to produce dramatic and emblematic effect son all those who saw it, this large awe inspiring fountain located right in the center of the Piazza Navona was able to do just that and Bernini was able to achieve with this fountain all that was the goal of the Baroque artists and architects. The fountain was built under the patronage of the then Pope, Pope Innocent X. This construction was supposed to be the commemoration for his being responsible for redirecting the waters of the Aqua Vergine; this had been one of the greatest of the famous aqueducts of Rome in the ancient times; and like the olden times he too ordered the construction of a fountain to honor the aqueduct. The fountain itself calls for glory. It consists of four sculptures that are supposed to depict the four continents that were known to the Romans at the time. The four rivers were; the Nile for Africa, the Danube in Europe, the Plata in America and the Ganges for Asia. The rock that is the base for the figures is made of wood while the sculptures themselves representing the rivers were made of clay.

The Fountains of Las Vegas

Fountains at Bellagio: Las Vegas is definitely one of the most attractive cities in America and because of a million reasons for sure, but there is also a reason which makes Las Vegas one of the number one tourist destinations its famous fountains. Among all these numerous outdoor fountains that can be seen all over the city, one of the first places to  look for fountains in Las Vegas, would be Bellagio. The fountain is actually a floating one that was built right in front of the hotel Bellagio on a lake that is artificial and was built by the owners of the hotel and is named Bellagio Lake as well. The fountains are thus constructed on the Lake. The fountains in length travel to up to a quarter of a mile. The massive fountains also uses fresh water incidentally and this fresh water comes from a well that was used for the irrigation of a massive golf course that had been constructed on the same site as the lake and the fountains now stand. The hotel was opened in the year 1998 and the fountains have been its centerpiece decoration and greatest attraction since then. The fountain in all its glory has a network of supposedly over a thousand and two hundred nozzles that are fed with water from the pipes from the well and these nozzles let out jets of water along with the programming that is done to the pump and the opening and closing of the nozzles so that the water jets dance along to the tune of the music being played, and voila that makes for a great Live show. Incidentally all the nozzles are not the same; there are three different kinds of nozzles that are used by the fountains. There are the Oarsmen, these jet out water at an angle of three hundred and sixty degrees of range space, the other are the Shooters, these nozzles are supposed to shoot the jets of water right straight up in the air, the Super Shooters are the biggest feat that can shoot water straight up in the air and that too to heights of at least two hundred and fifty feet in the air. It is the combination of all these nozzles and the water jetting out at different angles along with the rise and fall and the treble and the bass of the music, not to mention the nearly five thousand lights that the fountain uses, creates the effects that the massive audience every day enjoys. In fact, there were special artist and musicians and even choreographers who had been invited to design the pattern that the fountain follows for the shows that take place. There are twenty nine different pieces of music and songs combined that the fountains are programmed to accompany. The kind of music is a combination of all kinds of music, instrumentals, some 1960’s music and also some special holiday songs and not to mention the audience’s favourite, some great Elvis hits.  The shows in which the Bellagio fountains perform are one of eth most popular shows that are held in Las Vegas and are watched by massive audiences on daily basis, the Hotel conducts these shows every day of the week, and are cancelled only if there is a threat of a gravely windy weather. The shows are usually timed in a convenient way, like very thirty minutes or every fifteen minutes from evening everyday to midnight, and if you can manage to stand on the pavement facing the Bellagio hotel it should give you a great spot to view the shows, however do not expect to go home completely dry.

The Bellagio fountains happen to be the second largest musical fountains in the world, second only to the largest one in Dubai, however it is definitely one of the best composed and choreographed musical fountain. Shows, played at least about twenty eight times in a day, you will find yourself never bored in Vegas. The fountains in fact are so high and vast that they can be viewed from almost any point on the Strip itself or at least parts of it. The best part is however that the fountains were built using at least multi million dollars and the cost of maintaining the fountain is no less, but you can catch the shows free of cost as the shows require no tickets etc., they are on display free of cost, so it is one attraction in Las Vegas that tourists on any kind of a budget can take advantage of. From Pavarotti to Sinatra as mentioned before, the fountain dances to numerous tunes.

Incidentally, the Bellagio Hotel also has another fountain feat that is also very popular  among tourists especially those who dine at the hotel or spend a few days there; the hotel has the largest chocolate fountain in the world. When we say largest, we mean the entire twenty seven feet high chocolate fountain, with nothing else other than cascading chocolate down its walls. The entire fountain is actually encased in glass and there is more than two thousand pound of pure melted chocolate that cascades down the fountain. The fountain therefore has many credentials to its name. It is definitely the tallest chocolate fountain in the world and carries the largest volume of chocolate as well. There are three grades of chocolate that are used for the fountain which flow down different tiers and levels, dark chocolate along with white and medium chocolate are used for the fountain. This incredible fountain functions with six pumps that pump out all the chocolate over and over again in a recycling fashion. So, the fountain being protected by glass, most chocolate enthusiasts might feel disappointed about not getting to taste the elixir but fortunately, a “Drop of the Fountain” is a special bottle of chocolate sauce that is available at the Confectionary from where you can purchase it to whet your immediate chocolate-thirst.

Fountains at Caesar Palace: The Caesar Palace is one of the oldest and most visited  Hotels in the city of Las Vegas and the wonderful Roman theme of the hotel only adds to the atmosphere of sophistication and grandeur. Among the many ways in which the owners have been able to achieve the scale of sophistication and Roman theme of the hotel is the great fountains of the Hotel that have adorned the front entrance of the hotel for a very long time now. The Hotel actually attempts to create an atmosphere that would have been fit for the Roman Gods and the statues that crate the fountain only add to that. The Trevi Fountain for instance in replicated in the gardens here and appears as if the fountain has very literally been transported from Rome to this Las Vegas hotel.

Some of the world’s best

The Fountain of Wealth: The largest fountain in the world is supposed to be the Suntec Fountain in Singapore. The fountain is actually situated in a Mall in Singapore, known as Suntec city and the fountain alone attracts thousands of visitors every day to the Mall. The fountain is in fact also known as the Fountain of Wealth and that is because the Chinese believe in water to be the symbol of wealth. It is for this reason that at certain times of the day, the water from the fountain is kept turned off and visitors can walk around the smaller base of the structure which is supposed to bring good luck. The  fountain forms the hub and the central attraction for the mall and at night, the fountain takes on performances which are more than just as an ordinary fountain. At night, there are laser performances that are held at the Mall that are performed using the dancing jets of water of the Suntec fountain. There are even live songs and musical performances that are held at the venue and even a very exciting laser messages slot which all make the spot of the largest fountain in the world an even great attention-grabber. The fountain is a part of the modern day fountains that were built and was constructed in 1995. Made of bronze, the design of the structure is rather simple. It only has a circular ring that is held high up in the air using four pillars that is made of bronze as well. The columns are slanted at an angle, so that the ring appears to be carried in the middle. The fountain too along with some other constructions in Suntec city makes a certain design as per the construction plans of the city. There are actually five towers that have been constructed and are representative of the five fingers of a hand, the fountain on the other hand is supposed to be the palm of the hand that appears to be emerging from the ground of the city. The water flows from the top of the fountain, which is form the circumference of the ring on top of the fountain down towards the base. The columns and the base actually are located underground at the basement, while the top of the ring is at ground level. The way the water flows in the fountain also has certain connotations. The jets of water from the fountain flow inwards from the ring to a concentrated area at the base of the fountain. This movement of the fountain was created because of two main reasons. Firstly, in China, water is the symbol for both life as well as wealth, this inward movement of the water therefore symbolizes the retention of all the wealth of the people of Suntec city which is their own. Even in Feng Shui, the water that flows in such a direction is a symbol for money pouring in. It’s name, the Fountain of Wealth therefore comes from this belief. It is also believed that the symbol is supposed to represent the unity between the three races which exist in Singapore and the harmony between them. According to a similar belief, those who walk around the base of the fountain in continuous motion for three times, while making sure that the water from the fountain touches them throughout the way are ensured with good monetary luck. However, you are also simultaneously supposed to be making a wish , which would come true. However, the best way to view the fountain, also by avoiding the crowd which gathers around the fountain on a daily basis, would be to check in to one of the tall hotels nearby such as the Pan Pacific Hotel which could provide you with the perfect view of the largest fountain in the world.

The Fountain of Magic: The Fountain of Magic or the Magic Fountain is located in Barcelona, Spain. Apart from being the largest ornamental fountain in Spain the fountain has an amazing display of lights, music and colors to make an afternoon in Barcelona special. The fountain is about twelve meters wide but has a whopping three thousand and six hundred jets that spray water out to create the shows that the  fountain is so famous for. These jets spout out water at tremendous speed and that too at least four feet in the air. There is actually a light and music show that takes place at the location and it happens keeping this Magic Fountain as its backdrop. The musical performances along with the choreography of the fountains begin with the music of the great hits of the 70’s and the 80’s which incidentally include those of Queen and The Eagles to mention among the English songs. Very soon the music changes and the music then played is altered to the classical tunes of Beethoven and even Mozart and Vivaldi. The show has now become world famous for being one of the most relaxing things to do in Spain, the music along with the smooth changing colors and the combination of all that with the dancing jets of water from the fountain make it an absolute pleasure. There are claims that he fountain uses too much water but according to information the fountain uses recycled water instead of fresh water so as to conserve on the drinking water of the city and the country. The Magic Fountain first performed actually way back in 1929 during a big international event called the Great Universal Exhibition. The fountain was actually recently restored to its present conditions right before the 1992 Olympic Games took place in time for its show at this international event again. The shows that are held here are actually very popular throughout the year ever since it has gained world famous status and so if you plan on getting a good view you would have to arrive as early as possible. During the winter, the timings for the operation of the fountain is a little different than in the summer, during the winter, from around October to April, the fountains perform shows from seven in the evening to nine, and only on Fridays and Saturdays not throughout the week actually. In summers the fountains run for longer, from nine in the evening to eleven thirty at night and also the days are more, the fountain in the summer operates on Thursdays and Fridays along with the weekends. The show is free so in Barcelona, it is not only the major tourist attractions but is also the cheapest. However, it was in 2008 that again due to water shortage in the city, the fountain was supposedly kept turned off for a while, so if you are planning a visit, be sure to check and see if the fountain is functional for the year or not.

Fountains are gorgeous to look at; even the smallest ones would be enchanting because of the soft trickle of water down its wall. If you are truly interested in fountains and how they originated, you might be interested in this part, about some of the most famous fountains of the world.

The fountain at the Court of Lions: The Court of Lions actually was the main court that was located in Granada in Spain and was actually a part of their palace. The construction of the Court itself was the beginning of a new era, when the then King Muhammad V decided to blend in the architecture an exorbitant mix of Christian and Moorish styles; this was to be called the Nasrid Style. It was in the center of this long  Court that the Fountain of the Lions was constructed, one of the most beautiful fountains in the world. For a Muslim Kingdom and a Muslim King to commission the construction of a Fountain with twelve lions was an unusual construction, one that generated a great deal of legends out of the fountain itself. This Moorish State had actually become quite isolated from the rest of the Islamic states as history would tell us and thus their use of motifs, from their Christian influences was actually quite a common feature that began to be seen in the Nasrid Style of Art. Unbelievably, it is said that this Moorish Fountain had its influence in a description that was given in the Old Testament, that of the fountain at the Temple of Solomon, actually the parallels between these two fountains can be best drawn from some poems in the Hebrew Bible, which was perhaps the main influence for Muhammad V to have built such a fountain. The fountain consists of an alabaster basin that is held up by twelve lions on their backs. Water spouts out of their mouths into four different channels which flow down the courtyard dividing the court into exactly four sides equally.

The Fountains of Shalimar Gardens: The Shalimar Gardens can now be found in Pakistan, it was built in Lahore by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. The garden itself is a magnificent piece of artwork with its famous fretwork surrounding it on all sides. Because of the large size of the garden, for its irrigation, the king had ordered the construction of a canal, called Shah Nahar. This canal drew water from a river far away and brought the water to a long basin in the middle of the garden. The basin was made of marble and was in the center of the garden exactly in an open terrace. It is  from this marble basin that the great number of fountains rise, a total of four hundred and ten which spout water out into their own marble basins. The fountains are actually distributed according to the different levels of the terrace. The upper level has a hundred and five fountains, the middle level of the terrace has a hundred and fifty two and the lowest level of the terrace had a hundred and fifty three fountains, bringing the total to four hundred and ten fountains in the garden. There is one unique virtue about these fountains, even till this day, archeologists and engineers have not been able to come up with the right solution of the exact way in which the fountains were operated. The Mughal engineers in their brilliance had come up with a unique way in which the fountains were all operated together, but it has yet to be fathomed by today’s experts. This is where the ingenuity of the ancient times lies. In any case, even till this day, the fountains are functional. So many fountains spouting water out together is not only a feat to watch but in the blistering summer heat in a country like Pakistan, the fountains actually provide a lot of relief as they make the surrounding areas in the garden a lot cooler than perhaps any other public place in the city. Besides the fountains, the Garden also actually has other water decorations such as five cascades of water to compliment the fountains of the garden.

The Fountain at Bachchisaray Palace: This was the Palace of the kings of Crimea in Ukraine; it was the home to the Crimean Khans, the imperial family. The Palace itself has a courtyard that has the famous, Fountain of Tears. The story about the fountain so goes that Qirim Giray Khan, one of the kings of the royal Khan dynasty who resided in the Palace had been an unmovable and cruel King like most of the Kings of that time. However, as love would have it, even though he had a harem full of beautiful women, he had fallen in love with only one, a young Polish girl in his harem. However, she died too soon and in spite of his nature and reputation of having been a cruel king, he had been swept by tears. People around him were so shocked by his tears that the incident has actually become so famous. Nonetheless, in memory of his beloved, the King ordered the construction of a marble fountain in his courtyard; he is believed to have said that the fountain was built so that the rocks of the fountain would weep forever for his beloved, just like him. The story was such a touching one, that the Great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin wrote a poem based on it when he visited the Palace.

Trevi Fountain: Following the Baroque tradition of art form in Italy, the Trevi Fountain is the largest baroque fountain in Rome, Italy and also one of the most magnificent and well known in the world. Where the fountain now stands is at the junction point of three  roads where an ancient aqueduct that used to be the source of water for Rome in the ancient days terminates. The story goes that way back in 19BC, Roman experts were in search for a source of pure water for the city, and they had supposedly taken the help of a young virgin girl and located one such pure source of water that was located at least eight miles away from the city itself. This aqueduct had supposed to have been the source of water for four hundred years to Rome. However, with the Goth besiegers in the history of Rome, all the aqueducts that led water to the city were broken and the citizens had as their source of water polluted dirty wells and the Tiber River. However, things changed for the better again in the Renaissance period when the ancient tradition of marking the terminal point of an aqueduct with a fountain was again brought to the forefront, and it was during this period that a simple basin fountain was first built at the site where the Trevi fountain now stands. The Trevi fountain was finally completed in 1762 after years of being handed around from one Baroque artist to the other. The work had first begun in 1629 under the orders of the Pope Urban VIII. The theme of the large fountain is that of the attempt at taming the tumbling waters. Oceanus is the representation of all the oceans and the waters of the world and there are Tritons that accompany Oceanus in the taming, as Oceanus rides a chariot that is led ahead by seahorses. In the center of the fountain structure there is an arch at the center of which there is Oceanus trying to tame the waters. Beside Oceanus there are two other Roman legends, Abundance, she stands pouring water out from an urn in her hand and on the other side is Salubrity, who has a cup in hand from which a snake is shown to drink from. On top of the structure surface, there is an illustration of the story of how the virgin was used by the early Romans to find the source for the pure waters for the aqueduct. Besides all the beauty that the Trevi Fountain commands, the fountain also holds a significant legend about coin throwing. It is believed that if visitors of Rome throw a coin into the Trevi fountain’s pool of water, they would surely return to Rome again. There were other beliefs also attached to this coin throwing legend into the Trevi fountain, one other legend followed that if you throw two coins into the fountain you would soon find new romance and if you threw three coins into the water, then you would soon either marry or divorce. That was the tricky decision. Another legend and belief has it that you would overall be lucky if you threw three coins into the water but over your left shoulder using your right hand. Approximately there are about three thousand Euros of coins that are thrown into the Trevi fountain on a regular daily basis. The money is actually collected and used by the authorities to run a supermarket with subsidized rates for the needy and the poor of Rome. The Trevi fountain was also a part of many popular cultural books and films; the most iconic of them being the setting for a famous scene in the movie ‘La Dolce Vita’.

The Triton Fountain: This iconic fountain is located in Rome, designed by the legendary ancient Roman architect Bernini, another one of the most popular Baroque fountains. He had designed it for his great patron Pope Urban VIII. The fountain has the sculpture of a Triton, in fact a large figure of him. Triton was a half man and half fish mythical figure, one f the minor sea gods of the ancient Roman legends. Bernini depicted this  Triton as a sort of Merman who kneels down on an open shell. The water that spouts out of the fountain is from a conch shell that the Triton brings to his lips. Now, the water that jets out is not as high as it supposedly used to reach but nevertheless the structure is dramatic enough to infuse a sense of awe in the audience. Bernini in his tribute to his patron incorporated the Papal symbol in the tiara that he used around which four dolphins are entwined. This was one of the first fountains that had been built in Rome which was publically displayed on the streets of the city. Earlier on, such ornamental fountains, that weren’t meant as a source of drinking water, were seen only in the gardens or the villas of nobility. Bernini along with his patron the Pope Urban VIII brought such a beautiful feature closer to the view of the commoners of Rome as well. Another beautiful feature of the fountain is the passage that is illustrated on the structure, a passage from Ovid’s ‘Metamorphosis’. Also, the legend that was attached to Trevi fountain that a coin thrown into the water would return you to Rome was extended to this fountain as well.

The Fountains of Chatsworth House:  these fountains have incidentally not been mentioned about previously in this article, but they do happen to be one of the most popular and most visited fountains in the world, and they are worth looking at in great detail. The Chatsworth House itself is located in England as you might have guessed and used to be the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. Housing one of the most impressive collection of art from around the world and all the other features that make this House all the more popular, he Chatsworth house is visited by tourists on a regular basis. It is the gardens of the Chatsworth House that will hold our attention here as they are finely maintained and are the epitome of leisure and relaxation. The fountains of Chatsworth House that are so famous are four in number and each is famous for its own unique characteristic feature.

Firstly, the Empire Fountain. This fountain was actually constructed in honor of a visit by a king from another land, namely the tsar Nicholas from Russia to the house and the grandeur with which it is built is definitely fit for a king. The water that jets out of the spout shoots up to nearly three hundred feet in the air, and even from the house afar the jet of water from the fountain can be seen. This hundred and fifty year old fountain is most remarkable for its great height of water jetting out and happens to be the tallest jet of water in the entire country, and the funniest part is that the Tsar in whose honor the fountain was originally built, never visited the house finally.

The Cascade. This fountain which is perhaps the most spectacular of all the four fountains in the Chatsworth gardens is rightfully located in the center of the garden. The fountain actually stretches down an entire hillside down steps that are built against the hills, a series of twenty four steps. The fountain is designed based on the older French forms of architecture for fountains. A great feature of the fountain is the house that is situated at the top of the Cascades, called the Cascade House. It is from this house that the water flows for the Cascade fountain. The system looks beautiful, with sea creatures having been carved onto the surface of the house which pour out the water. Also, the steps down which the cascades drop is made in different sizes, they are not regular. However this only helps increase the attraction of the fountain as the irregularity of the steps causes the fountain to churn out musical sounds. For a person walking down the garden, watching the cascade House flow down water and eth water cascading down the steps is beautiful enough, and the sweet accompaniment of the tune that the water produces down the steps only adds to the whole picture.

The Willow tree Fountain. This fountain is one of the most creative forms of fountains seen anywhere in this world. Following the age old fountain tradition of the tricking fountain, this one too is built hidden amongst the willow trees of the garden. The fountain is constructed like a tree and has leaves and branches from which water sprays out drenching surprised visitors. The fountain is almost impossible to spot in one go and is generally used as an amusement for visitors to the garden who are strolling by. The Willow tree fountain is one of the oldest fountains in the garden, having been a part of the garden for almost three hundred years now.

Revelation Fountain is the newest fountain in the garden and was constructed as recently as 2005. This fountain is also one of the most innovative of fountains and is made of steel. The fountain consists of four large petals of a flower that are made of steel entirely. The technology is such that the flow of the water in the pond where the fountain is constructed the four petals also open and closes. There is a golden globe at the center of the fountain which is revealed every time the four petals open and then concealed every time the petals close. The globe is also actually made of steel but only covered in gold dust. The most intriguing part of the fountain is the fact that the entire movement of the petals, their opening and closing take place with the help of the movement of the water.
All the Chatsworth fountains actually have as their source of water the hillside lakes that lie above the estate and even in this modern day, the water comes from these lakes thus the fountains are entirely gravity-fed like the ancient fountains that also had as their source lakes and rivers. That is what makes these fountains even more remarkable as they function the way ancient fountains did and still function so well and are also a great feat to the eye. However, what is usually not visible to somebody who doesn’t know this fact and are only visitors is the fact that there is an entire intricate network of conduits and narrow streams that run under the whole area of the garden. These streams and conduits thus form an underground network that are all tended to and worked by the expert gardeners who look after the gardens of the Chatsworth estate.  The waters form these conduits don’t actually feed only the fountains but they are also the main source of irrigation for the gardens and the greenhouses etc that are all located within the premises of the estates. They all receive their water sources from this water network of channels that operate underneath the gardens. This kind of planning and engineering is truly remarkable for the supply of water to the estate.
Wild Goose Pagoda: The building which is known as the Big Wild Goose Pagoda is a holy building with its fountain in the front square for the Buddhists and is actually quite an ancient construction. It is supposed to be the present day symbol for the ancient Xian line in Xian city and is one of the greatest attractions for Buddhist believers from all around the world. This is again one of those fountains that rely mainly on the simple yet beautiful appeal of jets of water mingled with colors and music rather than the structure of the statute itself. The fountain itself is in the square that has been recently renovated and is in front of the temple and thousands of religious travelers from around the world travel to see the fountain. In Asia, the fountain is supposed to be the biggest fountain, let alone the biggest animated fountain. It is however also world famous and has international records for having the longest light belt in a water fountain. The fountain is accompanied by the real flavor of Chinese culture cultural Chinese gardens and other interesting tourist spots making a visit to the Wild Goose Pagoda fountain quite a memorable one; even if you are not a religious traveler.

Buckingham Memorial Fountain: Located in Grant Park in Chicago USA, there is one of the largest fountains in the world, definitely the Big Boss of fountains. What makes the fountain so breathtaking is the amount of water that is sprayed out every minute,  fourteen thousand gallons of water is sprayed out every minute form the hundred and thirty nozzles that make up this fountain. The center jet is the one that shoots out water to the highest level of a hundred and fifty feet in the air, making the display really something to visit Chicago for. Such a display operates for about twenty minutes every hour, from ten in the morning to eleven at night. It is however only towards dusk that the lights and music are turned on to accompany the water that jets out, the lights, the music and the water being all choreographed together in perfect harmony. The fountain however is not operated during the winter months in the city for obvious reasons but there are some special holiday shows that take place with the fountain and the lights and music.  The fountain has quite an awe inspiring height of seven meters which has a structure of three large basins. These basins are finally surrounded at the base by four pairs of horses around it, all made of bronze. The bronze horses actually symbolize the states that border Lake Michigan, which are Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana and the fountain is supposed to be the representation of the lake itself. The designer of this fountain was supposed to have been inspired by the Latona fountain in the Garden of Versailles.  Made of Georgia pink marble, his fountain is the Star attraction in Chicago.

Archibald Fountain:  This fountain in Sydney Australia is also located in one of the most popular spots in the country, Hyde Park. The name of the fountain is given in honor of the person who had donated maximum funds for the construction of this fountain, JF Archibald who was also the owner and editor of the popular magazine, Bulletin. Archibald had only one specification when the fountain was being built, that it should be designed by a French artist, this was because of two special reasons; one was definitely because he greatly loved the French culture himself and so he must have  wanted a piece of it in his own way and also because he felt it was important to commemorate the coming together and association of France and Australia during the period of the First World War. So a French artist Francois Sicard was chosen for the designing of the fountain. The fountain is greatly symbolic and has a peaceful air around it, depicting Apollo who would represent all the arts and the beauty and he hold his right arm out as if to claim his duty of protection over all that is natures. There are also three plinths that stand out from the central column. The three figures has Diana as one of them, who depicts purity, the other figure is that of a group which is supposed to be specifically representative of all the good things of the earth and lastly there is Theseus who is represented in the act of killing a Minotaur which again is representative of a sacrifice taking place, done for the good of humanity. Actually, Hyde Park was famous for its European and classical tradition in the sculptors and architecture that decorated the place; it seems that Sicard therefore had purposely chosen such a classical representation on the fountain in keeping with the rest of the decorations of the park. This spot in the park, the Archibald fountain is actually quite a popular place for the citizens of Sydney to spend time in; from political rallies being held and meetings being held to workers just spending their lunch breaks there, this fountain provides the perfect picturesque backdrop.

The Villa d’ Este fountains: The Villa located near Tivoli in Italy houses some of the best fountains in the country. The Villa itself is one of the best architectural example of Mannerist Europe but its main attraction most definitely is the Garden which has as its main decoration some of the best water features. The largest fountain in the garden is the huge Water Organ fountain, but besides that there are also the Fountain of the Dragon and the Hundred Fountains and many other smaller ones. The villa itself is  considered by most to be one of the most beautiful of them all in Rome and having as its main attraction, the Garden with fountains makes the fountains even more fabulous. The epicenter of the Garden, which mainly features water decorations, is the grand Fountain of eth Dragon. This fountain is actually located right between a pair of steep stairways and also beside the stairways are two small pools which are in the artistic shapes of dolphins and shells. The fountain itself is set in a fountain sort of structure and consists of four dragonheads that pout out water. When it was initially constructed, it is said that the water used to jet out from the cave down the great height that was achieved by the steep stairs and the sound of the water actually sounded like roars of dangerous dragons form their lairs in the cave. The fountain’s architect and designer is said have thought long and hard about the symbolism that he uses in the creation of the fountain. His main concern was to depict Hercules, who was the hero of the town of Tivoli; and his intention was to depict Hercules’ lessons of morality through his architecture. Therefore, the steps that lead to the fountain are supposed to be quite difficult to climb, the stony and steep stairs are found to be quite a struggle for every visitor but this was intentionally done, to make the visitor feel the struggle that that Hercules had to go through himself between his morals of virtue and the vices that quarreled inside him. Another symbol is the fork that the designer created in eth pathway that leads to the fountains it is supposed to be representative of the fork in the road that Hercules too faced according to legend, out of which one road led to Diana while the other to Venus.

Besides this great fountain, there are also some small miniature fountain heads that line the path of the Garden; a great combination of small stone sculptures and the soothing sound of water. On both sides of the avenue there are these hand sculpted stone fountainheads, some are of Grecian urns while others are of sailing ships; most however are of animal heads that are supposed to evoke a feeling of dread and at the same time, of awe. The spouts of water here were are also supposed to be symbolic of the three main rivers of Italy all of which united together to flow into the Tiber.

The description of the Villa and its garden would surely not be complete without a description of the great Water Organ Fountain, which is most definitely the biggest attraction for the garden. Even as far back as in the sixteenth century when this fountain had been constructed, it must have been with the help of some genius technicians and engineers that they were able to use hydraulic technology to create a wonderful blend of music with water using only pipes and its networks and nothing else. This musical fountain had been one of the great wonders of its time and the decorations replete with statues of Diana and Apollo and the beautiful carvings and arches only added to its beauty. However, the pipes had been ruined over the years and for a long time, the fountain had lost all its glory. Recently, the pipes have been restored and new technology used to bring back the fountain to the glorious place that it had achieved so long ago.

King Fahd’s Fountain: Why we mention this fountain which is located in Jeddah is because it happens to be the tallest fountain in the world. The city itself is no less of a wonder being one of the richest cities in the whole of Saudi Arabia and definitely the  richest city in the Middle Eastern part of the world. This Great fountain therefore is the tallest structure in the city, surpassing every other construction in the skyline in one of the richest cities in the world. Reaching altitudes of over a thousand feet, this fountain was built during the 1980’s and ever since then has been eth highest water fountain that the world has seen. The name of the fountain is in honor of the King (late) Fahd bin Abdul Aziz; who had donated this fountain to the city of Jeddah. Such is the height of the fountain that is actually visible from any given point in the city. The fountain is more or less simple in its structure jetting out a single shoot of water high up in the air at a great speed of two hundred and thirty three miles an hour and on days when the weather is not windy, the jet can reach heights of up to a thousand and twenty four feet, which is incidentally higher than the Eiffel tower in Paris. This water fountain has been running for over twenty years now and has not faced any major difficulties because of its great maintenance plans of careful inspection every day of the week; it has been in function since 1985 to be exact and could be called one of the most well maintained fountains in the world. The only great problem that the planners had to face was the kind of water that was being used for the fountain, which was to be seas water and this sea water being used at such a high speed for shooting out, could cause corrosion and abrasion of the pipes and the fountain itself.  To counter this, planners came up with plans that would prevent the fountain from being damages early. The pump where the sea water is initially taken in is very often completely pumped dry and then painted over with a special kind of paint that prevents any kind of marine life and plants from accumulating inside the pump that would also cause damage to the fountain. The water itself that comes from the sea is screened and is actually made as pure as possible, getting it rid of soil and other organic matter so that the final sea water that passes through the pipes of the fountain is clean and incapable of causing damage to the pipes. However to further keep the pipes safe, they are made of a special kind of stainless steel. The nozzles too that jet out the water in such high speeds are made of a special kind of alloy that are capable of withstanding the constant pressure of the water that pass through them in such great frequency. Incidentally, the lights and the spotlights that are used to add color and lights and illuminate the fountain itself are also made of a special kind so that they are able to still function in spite of having so much water plummeted and splashed into them every time the fountain is in operation.

It took two years alright to come up with the perfect combination that would get the fountain running in such a way that nothing really has happened to it now; the result of these two years of toil has not only been the world record setting near-phenomenon of this water feature but also the use of such highly pressurized sea water and its functionality and all its related knowledge has also been discovered.

Jet d’Eau: This fountain located in Geneva is actually pretty much the icon of the city as well. Every tourist in Geneva will be told so much about the fountain that even if it is off season in winter when the fountain is not functional, they would have to visit the fountain once at least to get a glimpse of what exactly it is that they are missing. It is situated at a strategic and symbolic point in the city, where the Lake Geneva actually drains itself into the Rhone. Around about five hundred liters of water is jetted out in the air and reaches heights of up to four hundred and fifty feet in the air and often times  when the weather is right to heights even more than that. Initially this fountain was not a fountain at all but instead was the safety valve to let out excessive pressure from a hydraulic power generator nearby and thus it jetted out streams of water into the air. However, its aesthetic value was soon realized and then it was improvised to add to the city as a decoration and a tourist attraction. It was lit up and illuminated as an inauguration during the six hundredth anniversary and celebration of the Swiss confederation and thus the Jet d’Eau ever since then has been emblematic for the city of Geneva. The fountain ever since a few years back actually, about 2003, has been in operation through the whole day and that too all through the year mostly. Only during the months of extreme frost when the fountain would be in danger of damage is it kept non-functional. Also during the spring and autumn months, the fountain is in operation during the evening time when it is lit up using several kinds of lights to illuminate the beautiful jet of water that the fountain is so famous for.

Fountains with other meanings

Fountains in the traditional sense of the term is supposed to give an image of a construction, usually a beautiful one that flows out water, mainly for drinking purposes or even just for decoration purposes. But it is a fact, that through these many years of having used fountains for just and exclusively that fountains are also being used for other purposes and also have different references.

The Mercury Fountain: Mercury as you may know is a metal, also known as quicksilver because it has a liquid silvery appearance when it is in room temperature. The metal truly looks beautiful in this form but unfortunately it is also very toxic in nature. The fact was that Spain, specifically Alamaden had mines that had been for over two  millenniums been the largest source of mercury in the world. This is the reason that when Spain had decided to build a unique piece of construction and dedicate it to the workers of the mine, many of whom had even died of mercury poising over the years, they decided to construct a fountain and absolutely not in the traditional sense of the term, but instead of water spouting out, they decided that they would make mercury pump out of the fountain instead a representation of those working the mines every day. Alexander Calder a world famous American artist and sculptor had been commissioned for this extraordinary piece of architecture and the fountain was to be a part of the 1937 World’s Fair. This work of art is sheer beauty but is also unfortunately deadly, and at the time that the fountain had been constructed there were many viewers who had been harmed by the toxicity of the fountain as the level of toxicity of mercury was still unknown to man. However now,   the fountain is still functional, pumping out mercury all the time and that too the silver pure mercury but behind glass panes in Fundacio Juan Miro which is in Barcelona. The glass panes prevent viewers from accidentally touching the mercury or even breathing in the fumes that are harmful for the body.
However, even before this mercury fountain had been constructed, there have been known to have existed other mercury fountains in Spain as well, more specifically in the Islamic kingdoms of Spain. It was in Cordoba that was one of such places where there was known to have been a fountain of mercury. Medina al-Zahra a palace which was as old as to have belonged to the 10th century was known to have a room that had one such mercury fountain and people form far used to travel to see the fountain which they thought then was pouring liquid silver out.

Chocolate fountains: A chocolate fountain actually not really a work of great architecture as the other fountains and even the mercury fountain is known t be, but instead it is only a derivation of the mechanics of such fountains but instead uses a similar construction to serve chocolate fondue. They are used in restaurants and parties  and you can even have one at home, a smaller fountain which spouts out chocolate for everybody’s gastric delight. The fountain basically is made of several tiers, depending on how large the fountain is and the basin at the bottom where the chocolate collects is kept heated so that the chocolate remains melted at all times to enable it to flow down. This melted chocolate which is melted is pulled up to the up most tiers and then follows the same journey down. The function of the fountain is simple that when the melted chocolate is flowing down the tiers of the fountain, you can simply dip in whatever skewer you want to eat into the curtain of melted chocolate which becomes coated with chocolate which you can then eat. The chocolate fountain is actually quite simple and consists of two major parts that make the fountain’s construction up. It has the motor and the heater inside the structure. The heater of course keeps the basin warm so that the chocolate remains liquid while the motor keeps the screw that is located in the upper part of the fountain driven. This screw which lies at the top with several cylinders is responsible for pulling the chocolate up to the upper tier from where it flows down through the other tiers and then reaches the basin and is then recycled to the top again. However in these chocolate fountains, a pump doesn’t really do the work because chocolate is a thicker liquid than water is and thus the screw is what works best for lifting the chocolate up.

These chocolate fountains are actually relatively new to the world of desserts and the fashion of serving. These fountains come in all kinds of sizes, they are found in small, medium and even very large. The very big chocolate fountains can be made the central attraction for a big party or event around which guests gather. Not only are they a delightful sight but are also great for serving food. Many parties use the chocolate fountain like a dessert to which people can serve themselves by chocolate coating whatever they want to, which just makes things easier for the hosts.

There are even home chocolate fountains that are available which are quite smaller in size compared to the commercial chocolate fountains that are used for parties and special events. However even if you do buy yourself a chocolate fountain for using at home, there are a few things that you need to know and keep in mind if you want your fountain to function properly. Firstly, not just any chocolate that is available at the super market would do for the chocolate fountain; you should try and get hold of the kind of chocolate that is made especially for these chocolate fountains. Yes there is a special kind, and if you want your fountain to be successful then you should arrange for that. The special chocolate fountain quality would definitely be more expensive than the kind that is usually available and which you must have used for other reasons but this kind does not work for the fountain unless you mix a bit of oil in the chocolate that can ruin the taste and the quality. The special chocolate fountain quality would not require any oil and thus guarantee a success. Now, after you have the chocolate fountain running, the next important thing to decide is what kind of dip you wish to serve with the liquid chocolate that is flowing down the fountain and that the guests would be coating their food with. The usual and best dip to serve with the chocolate fondue is different kinds of tangy fruits, strawberries should head your list, but you can also serve grapes and pineapples etc. you should also have enough skewers for all your guests and these are not of any special kinds but can be found at any hardware store, use the ones that tare used for barbeques itself. With all this in place and wit the necessary napkins to wipe the drips your event should be successful with the chocolate fountain. After the event is done, you should get rid of the remaining liquid chocolate before it starts becoming solid, liquid form should be quite easy to throw away. You can simply clean the fountain by dissembling it into the parts that it comes in, and put them all (not motor please) into a basin of hot water and the cleaning will take care of itself. However, before you pack up all the parts of the fountain you should make sure that it is all dry and clean so that it does not contaminate itself if it is moist.

Musical Fountains: The musical fountains are of the category of fountains that delight its audience not by using its architectural design and the structure of the fountain but instead the way the water is displayed and spouted out from the fountain is what amazes the audience. The musical fountain therefore is one such fountain which depends on a particular kind of animation that would entertain the crowd. The water and the choreography of the spouting out of water along with lights and music can be  used to create some kind of a design or a pattern or even a 3D image, depending on the competency of the fountain and its size etc. the principle that these fountains follow is not very difficult o understand really, sound waves are used along with the principles of water and laser technology to create these kinds of sights. The water streams that are spouting out of the fountain refract the light and retract with it to produce images and designs in the air. The kinds of such fountains that exist are varied in number and types. There are massive scaled ones that are used in commercial places and public arenas for entertainment and these are huge in size and they use numerous jets of water from the fountain and also numerous lasers to create particular deigns and choreography with the music that is usually played along with the fountains, such fountains can cost patrons millions of dollars. However there are also the smaller scaled ones with a few spouts that jet out water and dance with music and even create images and they are not as expensive and can cost at least thousand dollars but the sights that the fountains create are definitely worth it.

These special musical fountains are so choreographed, that is their pumps have hardware and softwares that are choreographed in such a way, that the water will rise and fall and the lights will turn off and on according to a particular music that is being played along with the fountain.  The earliest of such fountains when the technology was new there used be a manual choreographer for the fountain; this choreographer used to control light switches and also pumps and motors and valves so that the water sand the lights rose and fell according to a particular sequence. The music that was played was not necessarily live but was pre recorded and played along with the fountain. However, now the choreography is pre-program and fed into the pump’s hardware that makes the fountain’s water and lights to rise and fall according to the programming itself. There are numerous examples of such musical and animated fountains throughout the world which still do not cease to amaze its audience. The Grand Haven Musical Fountain in Michigan, the Dubai fountain (it is the largest Musical Fountain), The Musical fountain in Sentosa etc.

Soda Fountain: Soda Fountains, very surprisingly are fountains as well. They might work in the similar fashion that all these other fountains that we were talking about work, but they are referred to as Soda fountains nevertheless. These devices dish out carbonated and sweetened Soda drinks for a small price. These Soda fountains are put up by companies at stores, shopping places and other public places and are even kept at restaurants for serving Sodas. These soft drinks are created by the device itself which combines special syrup with carbon dioxide and water and then dispenses it out for the customer. These Soda fountains had come to rage as early as back in the middle 1880’s and has been as popular since then. However, the appearance may have changed quite a bit of the soda fountains from the older ones that were initially used. When these were first used, and they did not really have any machine such as the refrigerator to cool the drinks, normal ice was used to keep them cool. While earlier they had become something like vending machines where the community and the neighborhood would gather for an evening chat, soda fountains have become even more common and can be seen everywhere and are taken more casually by people now.