How to Build Your Own Lava Rocks for Fountains

Make a lava rock fountain for your tabletop.

Lava rocks in shades of red, brown and black add a calming, natural element to fountains. Although you can purchase fountains that include lava rocks, you can design your own fountain and lava rock arrangement. Select a vessel for the fountain that will accent the lava rocks and make them a focal point of the fountain. Create a tabletop fountain as your first project, and you can expand on the basic design once you have it mastered. Does this Spark an idea?

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4- to 6-inch-deep stone, ceramic or other waterproof vessel
Pump, tabletop fountain, 30GPH, 120V
1/2-inch diameter tubing, 12 inches long
Bag of 1-inch PVC pipe elbows
Water
#7 needlepoint canvas
Scissors
Lava rocks

Instructions

- 1
  
  Place the vessel on a work surface. Center the pump in the middle of the base of the vessel, and guide the pump's electrical cord up one side of the vessel and out over the top lip.
- 2
  
  Attach a 12-inch length of 1/2-inch diameter tubing to the pump. Water from the pump will travel up this tubing. Leave it long until you are nearly finished building the fountain with the lava rocks.
- 3
  
  Fill the space surrounding the pump with 1-inch PVC pipe elbows. This fills the void, and makes pump maintenance easy because PVC is simple to clean. Add water to the vessel so that it comes up to the water line on the pump.
- 4
  
  Take the scissors, and cut the #7 needlepoint canvas to fit the diameter of the vessel just above the top of the pump. The canvas will rest on top of the pump and PVC elbows to support the lava rocks. Cut a small notch in the edge for the pump's cord. Cut a hole in the center for the tubing. Slide the tubing up through the hole, and rest the canvas over the pump and elbows.
- 5
  
  Lay lava rocks in a random configuration over the needlepoint canvas, while keeping the tubing in an upright position. Stack the lava rocks in a way that is aesthetically pleasing. Use scissors to trim the tubing off so that it rests just below the top layer of rocks. Place the final rocks around the tubing.