skill Archives - Water Shapes

As Jimmy Reed knows well, glass tile can be an unforgiving material. But with meticulous planning and surface preparation, he insists, even surfaces as complex as those he encountered in this project can be tiled efficiently -- without annoying visual interruptions.

Double the Pleasure

Devising an approach to the application of fields of glass tile to complex surfaces is never simple, but when your goal is to do so while minimizing cuts and eliminating any visual "tics" that might stand out like sore thumbs when the work is done? That's taking the work to a whole different level. The project under discussion here, built in Gilbert, Ariz., offered this sort of challenge twice - once in a large entryway waterfeature, and again in the backyard with an outsized

Life at the High End

'Through the years,' wrote Brian Van Bower at the head of his Aqua Culture column in the October 2005 issue of WaterShapes, 'more than a few watershaping professionals have asked me how to break through and start working with high-end clients. 'I respond by giving them the disappointing news that there is no magic key here: Serving the high end takes

What Is a Designer?

When people talk about pools these days and have something ambitious in mind, many of the conversations focus on vanishing edges, perimeter overflows, infinity edges, knife edges, wet decks, disappearing edges and whatever other terms one might use in describing water-in-transit effects. In lots of these cases, if not most, these discussions are misdirected: Just because

Life at the High End

Through the years, more than a few watershaping professionals have asked me how to break through and start working with high-end clients. I respond by giving them the disappointing news that there is no magic key here: Serving the high end takes commitment, hard work and a willingness to focus your thinking on a distinct set of fundamentals that must take over and guide your work. Depending on the level at which you're currently functioning, getting to the high end may involve climbing a mountain or might simply be about making a series of

Heritage

It's been a subject of discussion among my parents and siblings that bodies of water - swimming pools in particular - have been an unusually important part of the lives of my own immediate family. I've spent the greater part of my career writing about all things aquatic while my

For All You Know

I'd humbly like to add my own voice to the growing list of those who are encouraging watershapers to seek payment not just for what you do, but also for

Pride, Not Pretense

There's an important point about this magazine that I'd like to clarify: A small number of readers have commented that because this magazine tends to