The Town Fountain

A Rolling Stone?

A nice town needs an impressive fountain.
I wanted a round fountain but wasn't sure what would work well until I saw my daughter unwrapping a ribbon from a spool. Combined with the stones we used making our stone walls, and the printed cobblestone streets and we had a plan.

Start with the ribbon spool and cut the top part to get an outer rim.  Use plenty of PVA glue in the edges of the wheel and roll it in a bowl full of the small stones we used for the walls.  You will have to do this over a while as each part dries, otherwise the top falls away as it rolls.  Frustrating.
Then just let it dry.  Add more stone individually into any gaps that are created and you effectively get a round stone wall for the fountain base.

A Roman gets a more modern use

We then used a spool from an EFT/Credit card thermal paper roll for the column.  Thin cardboard provided for some stone paving around the base.
A couple of tiddly winks/plastic circles were used for the base and top of the column.
A suitable Roman Soldier was volunteered to guard a new position.  The heads from which we would have water pouring out were spares from our Warlord Games plastic British infantry. Just trim the necks so they are at roughly the right angle on the column.
While that was drying we undercoated the cardboard with grey paint.

Base coated with a few coins thrown in

We then glued the column into the middle.  As we were going to put in "Realistic Water" we painted the whole inside of the fountain with PVA glue to provide a seal.  Then we threw in some gold and silver glitter to represent coins. The cardboard on top of the fountain we painted with textured paint and then dark washed it to provide a stone look.  Once more, we waited for everything to dry well.

A base made from MDF

We then cut some 3mm MDF to an appropriate square size and rounded the edges.  We printed some cobblestone pattern and glued it around the corners.  Then we painted it with clear Satin varnish for durability and strength and it just looks better.  The fountain was then ready to be glued to the base.

Just add water

We poured in some of the "Realistic Water" we used in Private Timmy's Well and the Pegasus Bridge Pond. (Go to the Pond link to see more about this water product)
We then left this to dry for a few days. Some clear plastic thread was glued to the mouths of the heads and into the water using some craft glue.  When this dried we added more realistic water.

I'll just pop in here for some "medicinal remedy".

The final touches were some water feature stuff which dries clear painted on the clear thread to look like running water, a few weeds and dirt and black wash and the final step - a duck hiding between the legs of the Roman Guard.
Now we have a fountain worth fighting over.  Even if it just for the loose change!