Fountains create focal spots for balcony, garden or deck. The symphony of sound is relaxing and softens the edges of neighbourhood noise.

When searching the catalogue for information on building a smaller fountain in a pot, subject keywords “tabletop fountains” are most helpful. Here are the books that caught my eye.

Tabletop fountains: 40 Easy and Great-Looking Projects to Make (1999) by Dawn Cusick offers clear information about the mechanics of the fountain along with design tips and examples.

She builds a patio fountain from plain clay flower pots (p. 64). Three pots and saucers of different sizes are arranged inside a very large saucer so that water cascades from the largest to the smallest. The arrangement is capped by a spider plant and saucers are lined with polished stones. Very effective.

I also liked the face mask fountain (p.76) and stacked squares fountain (p.89).

In Tranquility Fountains: Projects for a Serene Lifestyle(2002), the Global Meditation Table (p. 52) is an arrangement of two stone-filled trays with water spurting through the holes of a salt shaker located in the middle of the smallest tray.

Copper & Wind chimes fountain (p. 84) uses copper tubing to channel the water in a serpentine design with wind chimes made from the same tubing to stir in the breeze. Another clever arrangement is the Waterfall fountain (p36) built with slabs of slate.

In Creative Tabletop Fountains(2002) by Marthe Le Van, projects include a Peaceful Pagoda (p. 45) made from ceramic bonsai containers and the Seashore Memory Fountain (p.69) where the water is channeled through a large sea shell.

Simple fountains for indoors & outdoors(1999) offers instructions for working with bamboo and wood to create spouts and dippers. One of the loveliest fountains is featured on the cover: a pottery jar that spills water into an antiqued copper basin filled with polished rocks.

I also found inspiration on the web.

Don Vandervort’s Hometips shows a classic Japanese design with bamboo and water plant. Garden Gate magazine offers a clever arrangement for a small patch of garden.

Sunset features a very pretty fountain made from a tall ceramic garden pot. This one would work for either garden or balcony.