Budget Fountain for Small Spaces

I wanted a fountain that doesn't take up too much space in my studio apartment's balcony so I could enjoy the sounds of water fall and maybe provide a water source for bees and hummingbirds I see flying around. I used resources from a river clean-up project I did and purchased a solar pump to give it life. Hope y'all enjoy.

• Bucket or other water tight container to act as your reservoir $2
• container or lid that fits and rests on the lid of your reservoir (mine was a to-go container courtesy of the river)
• foam (can be purchased or found in your local river pollution) $8
• paints (white, black, red, yellow, and blue will make any color you need) $5 total
• a brush (can be purchased or found in your local river pollution)
• Water pump (mine is solar, purchased for $10 off amazon)
• Cutting tool, I used a box cutter, a butter knife will do the job or stray metal courtesy of the river
• rope (optional) I found some and decided to wrap the outside of the bucket
• hot glue gun and sticks (I forgot how much it was but have had it for years) debate-ably free hmm

Decide based on your lid or container what your base shape should be and cut repeating sizes of it in the foam to stack up and give your fountain volume to carve from. I went with a hexagon to fit into the to-go container and made it small enough for water to fall off any edge and still land in the black container. On the bottom most layer I added channels to make sure the water has a path to drain once I poke holes in the black container.

Build up how you want your water to travel down your fountain. I'll be punching a hole through the fountain much later from the tallest point because I was cascading falls that lead into two pools so bees and birds could drink from it if it's crazy hot here in Texas. Don't be afraid to rip and tear pieces into smaller ones so you have options on building up the bulk of your landscape. I'll be cutting away a lot in the next steps.

Once you're happy with the shape of your terrain, hot glue all the pieces together. and start to mark-up the areas you want to carve. I want a miniature rocky texture so I'm thinking of rocky cliff faces and outcrops when making my lines. Also pop some drain holes in your smaller container at this time

This step takes the longest and I took time-lapse videos instead of pictures for it so you can see all the work put into it. Put on some music or a podcast you like and start adding texture and roughing up the flat edges of the foam. When we paint all the details will pop with the dry brushing technique we'll be using so take your time and get it to a level that your happy with.

Painting steps

-base coat of gray (black + white paint)

-muddy pond bottoms (all paints mixed together)

-green patches (blue + yellow + a little white)

-dry brush ( the tiniest bit of white paint on the brush and just beat it on the surface of the foam, you'll see the texture POP!!)

Most of the project with silly music and subtitles, feel free to mute if the music bothers you as I don't speak in it.

after running water through my tubing I saw it leaking out the side, this was caused by the foam blocking the flow from the inside and the pressure pushing though the foam layers, I blew out the foam with my mouth and reinforced the seem that leaked, but I think just blowing out the foam would've been enough.

place your pump in the bottom of the container and trim your tubing to a length that lets your foam fountain sit nicely in your small container. fill with water and if using solar find a sunny spot to enjoy the sounds of your new fountain. adjust the bucket with scrap to get the water flow where you want it if it spills like mine did at first. And then there you go a mini-water fountain for the price of a hot glue gun and a fountain pump. The rest can be found in the great outdoors thanks to people that litter so get out and pick up some trash!