ARTICLES Archives - Page 124 of 312

Test Your Knowledge #71

Young Swimmers Evacuated from Changing Room Because of Prosthetic 'Pool Pervert'

It's been a long time coming: Just ten days ago, after nearly six months of grinding care and effort, the entirety of the WaterShapes magazine archive is now available online as it originally appeared in print. All 131 issues are digitized in .pdf format now, every one of them from our premiere in February 1999 to our analog swan song in July 2011. Many of these issues are still available in printed form if you want to complete your collection, but

#10: Acrylic Pool Wall

Of all the new twists that have been added to the realm of swimming pool design in the last dozen or so years, one of my very favorites is on display in this video. I absolutely love the way acrylic walls add an exclamation point to just about any suitable project. I'm also of the opinion that, as watershape designers, we're only beginning to scratch the surface when it comes to exploiting their potential in our

A Pond After Dark

A surprising number of my clients come into the pond-buying process without having given any thought at all to how the watershape will look after the sun goes down. That probably has something to do with the fact that the big natural ponds they've encountered in their lifetimes have not benefited from any kind of illumination beyond the occasional pole-mounted floodlight. So they're in for a treat when we complete their pond and they watch it

12-18 travelogue art 1 dreamstime xs 29269390--Alexei Poselenov Dreamstime.com

Frosted Plumes

The cold snap that gripped huge parts of the country earlier this month put me in mind of one of my favorite things - and I feel deprived, because I've never lived in a place where such things happen. Back in 1984, Judy and I took a train trip across Canada from Vancouver to Banff. It was November and brutally cold by the time we reached our destination, but we braved the wind and snow to do a bit of hiking in the beautiful terrain near Lake Louise - just breathtaking, both literally and figuratively. While walking along a stream, we came across a cascade that started about ten feet over our heads. It had frozen over for the most part, and I recall the hollow resonance of the water flowing rapidly behind the waterfall's blue-white armor - a sound I've never forgotten. But the visual effect! I've always been a big fan of the Catalonian architect Antoni Gaudí, and there's something about the

Ripples #82

Compiled and Written by Lenny Giteck Florida Boy Gives Swim Meet Trophy to Hospitalized Rival

Ripples #81

Compiled and Written by Lenny Giteck Million-Dollar Swimsuit: Wretched Excess with a Wacky Tan Line!

Keep It Clean

It's a plain fact: Nothing cools the affection of a new owner faster than confronting an under-equipped swimming pool's need for lots of routine maintenance. He or she doubtless wanted the watershape for the good times it would provide; vacuuming the walls and floors and skimming leaves off the surface were definitely not part of the conceptual bargain. That's why, as this video relates, it's so important to include some form of automatic cleaning system along with the pool right from the start. Yes, there are

A Stitch in Time

In any given project, it's almost certain that we'll figure out a new way to nick or tear some spot on the 45-mil EPDM liners we use in our ponds. Sometimes it's a sharp edge on a heavy boulder we're jockeying into place; other times it's the random sort of harm to be done by shovel blades, knives, screwdrivers, awls and other tools you can't get away from on a job site. The great thing about EPDM liners is that repairing nicks and cuts is