Ep. 48 BUILDING A MOSAIC FOUNTAIN SUBSTRATE & finishing Spring Fever II.

Ep. 48 BUILDING A MOSAIC FOUNTAIN SUBSTRATE & finishing Spring Fever II.

The Fountain - Part 1.
In this video, I demonstrate how to build a wall fountain from 1/2" WediBoard and 2" Hydroban board and prep it for mosaic.
I share a tip for making a slow-going mosaic more manageable with the Spring Fever mosaic commission. Each of the four quadrants will take a while with custom cut glass.
Next, I show my preliminary plan for my mosaic fountain (note: I have no measurements!) The fountain will spill into a plastic basin that I will build a basin cover for. Using a jigsaw, I begin by cutting off the top and using the string trick to create a semi-circle for the top of the fountain. Measure twice, cut once! When the correct reference line is finally drawn, I start cutting out the 2" substrate using care to keep the cut vertical. I flip it around to cut the long side. Then before I cut anything else, I check to make sure it looks good where I will have it. Next, the opening for the bin is cut out with the jigsaw.
I take a break to work on the commission a bit and finish the 3rd quadrant! Then the last piece is added to the fourth section and I head outside to work on the fountain again.
I drill a hole for the pump tubing and the plastic basin is filled with water. With the tubing in place, I test the pump and find out it is quite strong! Next, using the first piece as a template, I trace around it and cut it out. I set it up again and re-evaluate how to make it. Then I cut the channel for the tubing in the back, and start on the spill basin. A slot is cut in the front 2" thick Hydroban board and the splash basin is added. Next I test it again to make sure the water hits the basin, and fit a taped basin cover around the plastic one at the bottom. At this point, I decide to add a cap to the top of the cover. I tape it on and add thinset to the whole assembly (except the top cap), including a skim coat on all sides!
A new day dawns and the design changes a bit more as I ditch the stabilizing wings and decide to add hanging hardware to the back to keep it securely upright. I add the hanging hardware and I add a support bracket, using wedi washers, screws and nuts. Then I build a rim, tape it and add thinset.
The next day I start off by using my dremel to cut off the extra length on the screws. I glued both boards together with Power Grab, wrap the edges with mesh and add thinset. I create a tubing channel with mesh that is not sticky, working from front to back. Waiting for my thinset to slake, I start thinking about my mosaic design. The plan is for a tile pattern on the edges and roses with maybe hummingbirds. Then I decide to skim coat the entire back to clean up the look. When it is partially cured, I use a sanding block to sand it down. I assemble the whole thing and test with water for the fourth time.
Back to the commission, I grout the whole thing with black grout, using a grout brush to get in the areas with a height difference.
That's it!

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