Category: Sculptures

Designing a Beautiful (And Functional!) Water Filtering Fountain

Introduction

Water fountains have many uses all around the world. If you go to any public places or business buildings in the United States, a water fountain will be present for human consumption. Water fountains are also very popular for decorating backyards, the insides of homes, or even public common areas. Having a water fountain creates a soothing and beautiful environment. Most people use water fountains to calm their nerves and relax to the sounds of continuous running water. There are many benefits of having a water fountain. After reading this article you will be able to enjoy a beautiful and affordable bamboo water fountain in the comfort of your home. You’ll even be able to drink out of it whenever you want! Don’t worry, the water will be filtered and safe for human consumption.

Getting Started

The materials will not be hard to find – in fact, you’ll only need 5 items to make this work. First, you are going to need a large pot or bowl, which will be the most important part of your water fountain. Make sure the bowl is big enough to hold a water pump and a good amount of water. A wide opening at the top of the pot/bowl is a necessity, as it will give you more room to design your fountain. Next you will need two really long bamboo sticks, or three smaller ones. Whether you want to use real or fake bamboo is up to you. The third item you will need will be string or twinw. I recommend using Jute twine to give your craft a beach-like vibe. You will also need a hot glue gun with maximum gluing strength to hold everything together. Last but not least, you will need a pump – I recommend the Jebao Mini Submersible 12W Fountain Pond Pump. This pump is simple to use and the size is perfect for this application. With all of these items together, you will be able to assemble an outstanding water fountain in no time.

Assembly

It is important to make sure you have the correct sizing for all of the componants. Without the correct sizes, you could spend many hours of frustration because the pieces don’t fit together. Depending on how big the main pot is, your bamboo length will vary such that it is sufficient to go across the top of the pot and hang off about 2 inches on each size.

1. Cut your bamboo into 3 pieces correspondingly to the width of your pot/bow. Be sure to place them on the top to make sure it sits on top perfectly before cutting.

2. With the remaining bamboo, measure out and cut a bamboo piece about 6″ and make one side of the bamboo the spout by cutting it diagonally at the end.

3. Get the twine/string and lace all three of the bamboo together at both ends, excluding the spout.

4. Place the water pump inside the pot/bowl.

5. Hot glue the spot on top of the bamboo horizontally. Make sure the spot points into the middle of the pot so that the water can pour back in, hence, continuous fountain.

6. Hot glue the bamboo piece onto the pot/bowl. The bamboo should be hanging off the edges by two inches. The spot should be pointing towards the center of the pot/bowl.

7. Get the tube of the water pump and place it in the other end of the spot. That way the water will flow out of the spot.

8. Fill 3/4 of the pot/bowl with water. Just make sure that the water is covering the filter.

After completing all of these steps, turn on the motor and your water fountain should be flowing beautifully. You can add finishing touches by decorating with fake plants to hide the motor or paint the bowl on the outside. Give it a little of your personality.

Filtration

Clean water is very important for the human body. We use it to for so many daily rituals such as cooking, cleaning, drinking, the list goes on and on! Everything living thing has water in it. Using a natural method to clean water is the way to go. It’s healthier, you don’t need to add harsh chemicals, and it will save you the expense from having to buy one of the best home water filters. One of my favorite ways to filter water is by using fruits. The peels of most fruits can absorb different types of harmful pollutants, especially heavy metals. The most popular fruits to use for this purpose are banana, apple, and tomato peels. Some even use coconut fiber & rice husks. My personal favorite method is lime and a lot of sunshine. It all depends on what you would like to use but if you were to go with the lime method, the steps are easy. Put lime juice into the water and place the fountain where the sun shines its brightest. Just with the sun, the rays disinfect the water and reduce the E. coli levels. Solar disinfection combined with lime or any citrus fruit gets a faster effect.

Conclusion

With this fountain, you will be ready for any social event. Who knows – the possibilities are endless! Building a water fountain is easy and can be done in many ways but the best part of doing this activity is the fact that the result is personalized. When you get to add your own personality to your art, it feels twice as rewarding than just building someone else’s art.

Modern Art? Making a Sculpture from a Mattress

These days, people are upcycling like crazy. You can pretty much take any piece of trash and turn it into your next masterpiece. Upcycling was definitely a big trend in 2017, and we anticipate that it will be more prevalent throughout 2018 and beyond. Environmental preservation is a huge social movement, and as long as people are reducing, reusing, and recycling, art is a great venue to show your support for the cause.

Before you have your mattress ready for the garbage man to pick up, stop and think of what it means to you. It could be that you are about to waste the most artistic piece in your home. There’s a lot of compartments to a mattress, but if you’re not thinking about how valuable your mattress really is you could be wasting your talent.

The parts of a mattress seem to be complex, but in fact, they are amazingly simple to use. Before diving in and taking this mattress apart, brainstorm about the way you can use it. To come up with a contemporary sculpture, your strategy should be written down so you will know for yourself exactly what it is that you’re inventing. The springs are a great place to start. Make sure to set aside 15 for the parts that you have to do later. Have a hammer and wrench handy in case you need them, the sculpture itself will takes some hard work but it will be a lot of fun to make.

Twist and connect each spring piece to form a circle. Then as you think about what to do with the cotton, you are layering the cotton onto the springs and wrapping it around them like a ribbon. It may be easier to rub the cotton back and forth in your hands as if you’re trying to cause friction. This will help the cotton mimic the ribbon. Cut the wood that was in the mattress in half. After you’re finished with all of that, take the magnets and glue some to the wood and the rest to the sculpture. Make sure the wood is surrounding as much of the springs as possible.

After that is complete, you take a saw and go down the front of the sculpture to form a u-shape on one side of the sculpture. It should look like it has a dip in the front. Take those pieces of wood that were cut and glue them to the back of the sculpture toward the highest part of it. Place cotton in the middle of the sculpture but hold it in place with glue.

Take the springs that you did not use and overlap them. You want them to look like you’re weaving a basket. Stuff the holes with memory foam as needed for aesthetic purposes – the best memory foam mattress toppers are extremely pliable and will fit anywhere you need to fill the void. You want to find memory foam that is designed to hold up to the test of time, as many lower-quality memory foams will lose their resilience. This, over time, would lead to drooping and won’t give your structure the support that it needs.

Before adding the springs to the bottom of your sculpture, measure the circumference of it. You want the bottom piece to fit in the bottom like a lid. After you finished working on your art, you realized that you made a steel bongo. Be sure to have enough cotton around the top to make sure you don’t hurt your hands. You never thought you would be able to come up with something like this. Your sleep has helped you become an artist.