Last year I pick up this amazing silver punch bowl and cups at a thrift store. I used the bowl for a salad bowl and the cups for place cards with small ivy in them for a witches tea I hosted. This year it called to me to become a tabletop fountain. Halloween is probably my favorite holiday, Christmas coming in at a very close second. This year is my first year with all my girls gone, so I can’t use them and their friends as an excuse to indulge in my guilty decorating obsession. I’ve decided to just own it and do what makes me happy…and it doesn’t get better than a spooktacular DIY!!
Materials:
- Fountain Pump
- 1/2″ Rubber tubing
- 3/8″ copper pipe
- 3/8″ copper fittings: 4 caps, 2 elbows and 2 T’s
- Waterweld Epoxy Putty
- Floral Clay
- Loctite Outdoor Adhesive
- Silver Punch Bowl and cups
- 1 – Dollar Tree Silver Tray
- 1 – 2 Piece Dollar Tree Fence Post
- Rustoleum Black Flat Spray Paint
- 1 – Dollar Tree Black Party Bowl
- 1/2″ Drill Bit
- Dollar Tree Black glass Stones
- Dollar Tree Resin Pumpkin
- Dollar Tree Plastic Spiders
Ok, I wish I could say that the end result happened without a hitch, but the fact of the matter is that there were more than a couple. The biggest being that I took picture at every step as I put it together only to realize after the silver tray was in place that the memory card was not in my camera…just have to laugh, right?! I have done my best to duplicate for demonstration purposes.
First let’s talk pumps. The one I used pumps 75 gph (gallons per hour) and has a lift of 2.5′. In my research I learned that the lift should be 1.5 – 2 times the height of your tallest water spout, in my case the tallest was about a foot. Most pumps have an adjustment control for the flow so you can have it fully open for a greater flow or turn it down for a more soothing trickle. I chose to have three spouts, one in each of the teacups and one coming out of the bats eyes. The water will flow to the path of least resistance which was my shortest teacup. In order to get the water to push up to the bats eyes I had to use the Waterweld epoxy putty to make the 3/8″ copper pipe opening inside the cup smaller. I did the same for the taller teacup too. When I turned on the fountain the water from the bats eyes, even though the holes were small, shot to far out for my liking so I used the the Waterweld around the eye to redirect the flow to shoot where I wanted – as you can see in the picture the water didn’t exactly shoot in the direction that I wanted it to, but it was shooting inside the bowl so I was ok with that. *I recommend that you assemble all the parts and test the water flow before the addition of the silver tray, it will save you time and frustration in the end.
When starting the design process and looking for the parts, I began with the clear rubber tubing size. The pump has a connector on either the top or side of it. Mine was 1/2″ so it required a 1/2″ inside diameter tubing. For me this was where I had to fudge things a little. I was working with 3/8″ (inside diameter) copper tubing and 1/2″ (inside diameter) rubber tubing. In order to connect the pieces together I used 3/8″ copper fittings.
Tip: to make it easier to fit the rubber tubing over the ends of the 3/8″ copper fittings dip the end of the rubber tubing in hot water for 5 – 6 seconds and it should slide on with little effort. When the rubber cools it forms a snug seal around the copper.
I trimmed off the top of the Dollar Tree Party bowl to fit the height of the punch bowl. I ran floral clay around the bottom ridge on the outside of the plastic bowl to keep it stable in the punch bowl. I used the plastic bowl as a liner because I was unsure what prolonged water exposure to the silver would do, as well as to prevent any possible reaction to the copper.
Now, in most fountain tutorials you will find that they built the support of the fountain by using inverted terra cotta pots or ceramic bowls of one kind or another to hide the pump. Because of the confined space in my punch bowl, I needed the majority of the space to house the piping for the spouts. I suspended a silver tray from Dollar Tree above the pump to conceal it and had to get creative with how to stabilize it. What I ended up doing was using 3/8″ copper caps and 4 short pieces, about 4″, of copper pipe to make support legs. I used the Waterweld epoxy putty to hold them in place and put them strategically in between the tubing.
Bat Fence Post Prep: I first cut the bottom of the fence post off. Then I drilled small, maybe 1/8″, holes through the eyes of the bat on just one of the fence posts. I then lined the back side of it with a piece of the copper pipe. Using the Waterweld putty I secured the pipe to the plastic at the neck of the bat. My hope was that I could seal off the stem of the post from the water going down it, but alas, in the end I had to seal the bottom on the outside around the pipe sticking out. Make sure you leave a good inch of pipe sticking out the bottom of the post to accommodate the putty, clear the pumpkin and go through the tray and into the fitting below. Next, using the Loctite Outdoor Adhesive, I glued the two fence post together. The plastic posts are a little askew so getting them to touch all the way around was a minor challenge so I used the Waterweld Putty to fill in and cover. I sanded off the purple paint on the wings because I found it was flaking off on it’s own and then sprayed the finished post with Rustoleum Black Flat spray paint.
The pipe in the fence post made it a little heavy so I drilled holes in the top and bottom of the resin pumpkin from Dollar Tree big enough to fit the post through for support. I used the Waterweld to build up the bottom angle of the pumpkin and to keep in place.
I decided what angle I wanted the teacups at and drill 1/2″ holes in them. Surprisingly they drilled very easily.
The toughest part of the project was determining where the holes needed to be drilled in the silver tray for the three water spouts. I ruined 3 trays before I was happy with the results. it may help to have a second pair of eyes and hand for this.
Once the tubing and connections are in place I put the two copper pipes that hold the teacups, into their fittings. Add the short capped copper pieces that will support the tray. Add the tray, then slip the teacups on the top of the copper pipes and secures and make pipe openings smaller with the Waterweld Epoxy Putty. Secure the fence post with pumpkin last. Place the black glass stones on the tray and add your desired trinkets, I used resin tombstones and plastic spiders. Fill with water enough to cover pump, plug in and admire your masterpiece. If for any reason you didn’t get the flow on the pump to your liking you can adjust it now, but please do it carefully, it’s easier than you think to disconnect things…trust me! It was at this point that I added the the Waterweld putty to the bats eyes. I let it dry overnight and held a piece of paper behind it to touch up with spray paint.
Mine makes me really happy there was a point that I wonder if the effort was worth it, but I can honestly say with an enthusiastic YES, that it was definitely worth it. I’ll enjoy it for years to come. Happy Halloween!!!!
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