Page 210 – Water Shapes

More than 25 years ago, even before he was a watershaper, Jim Wilder came across a fountain puzzle he couldn't solve. Since then, he's figured it out -- and shares his observations of a neat effect here.

A Sloshing Mystery

Water in the open basins that commonly surround fountain jets or nozzles is never tranquil while these systems are in operation. It will slosh around in response to the upward thrust of those jets or nozzles as well as the splashing the rising water makes as it drops back into the basin. If the circumstances are right, this disruptive splashing will produce waves in a distinct, consistent pattern. By exploiting these waves, it's possible to produce an effect I find

Remembering Andreas Sofikitis

Andreas Sofikitis, president of Sofikitis Decorative Stones, passed away on October 28, 2014, the victim of a hit-and-run accident. I first met him at a trade show more than a dozen years ago and was immediately struck by what a nice guy he was as well as his level of enthusiasm and passion for his work. But I was even more impressed when I saw what he was producing in his fabrication shop and recognized that he was a game-changer in

Finding Balance

Decades ago, people in the pool industry started becoming aware that there was more to pool maintenance than just adding sanitizers to the water (to kill algae and bacteria) and filtering it (to help keep it crystal clear). Gradually, we learned that even properly sanitized and filtered pool water could become unbalanced. Further, we figured out that unbalanced water could be either scale-forming, in which case a layer of