Building a New Fountain, Sounds of Falling Water

Speaking of water...

We've tried a number of fountain variations here at The Grackle. There was the bubbler made from a stack of old barbell weights left by the previous owner. That didn't last long, and is now a dry sculpture. Just didn't make enough sound. The weights were replaced with a lovely little cement bowl, but that one just wasn't quite right either. It didn't make enough sound, and the water also evaporated so damn quick it was impossible to keep up with. If I was going to be spending precious water on a fountain, I want to hear it trickling away in the background.

So, I stored the pump and tubes in the garage and waited to inspiration to strike. And, in came opportunity number three, thanks to this winter's freeze.

Our friend Alex gave us this cement trough planter filled with four yuccas.

They were beautiful and doing just great for several years until this year's freeze. That turned them into mushy mush (and super stinky too).

The planter could have been re-filled, but I had the idea that the trough could make for a great self-contained water feature.

So, I emptied out all of the soil and got to work.

We had an old copper tube left over from some plumbing project in the house (who knows) and I figured it would do just the trick with a little shaping. (I made the nice arched curve in the copper by rolling it over a steel cylindrical container.

This is me trying to figure out if I wanted the water spout to fall in the center or on the side. I opted for center, so it would align with the back door and the solar/moon ceramic sculpture on the wall. Plus, I didn't want it to resemble a bath tub.

Here's what it looks like almost complete.

This is really just testing mode. I'll need to drill a hole in the cement planter for the pump's electric cord (don't want that visible) and get the copper spout all lined up and in perfect position. We'd like to add a small plant, and perhaps a little fishy too. I figure this is about the size of a ten gallon fish tank, so we could put a minnow or two in there pretty easily.

Alternatively, we could keep it simple and modern, with just the water, the copper spout and the falling water.

This biggest bonus of this fountain thus far is the sound of that falling water that greets us as we enter the back gate, and right now, with the back door open and the cool front breezing through the screendoor, we can hear the sound of the falling water lilting through the house. A perfect perfect sound.

Sigh....