diy update: bamboo water feature

Three seasons of almost daily use of my DIY balcony water feature left the bamboo artist’s cup a little worse for wear as the raw wood interior did not stand up well to constantly being exposed to water. Learning from this experience it would have been wise to finish the cup with some sealant.

So out it went and my water feature is now sporting an updated look. For this rendition I found a short bamboo tiki torch at a thrift store for $2 that I sawed off just above the natural ‘plug’ in the bamboo stalk, into which I drilled the hole for the pump tubing. The other end I sawed off at a 45 degree angle using a mitre box.

After cleaning the original cross pieces, I treated them to a coat of tung oil and bound them back together with twine. I also coated the raw inside surface and outside edges of the water spout with tung oil. This might be enough to ward off any mould, but it might be better to use a shellac / sealant. Alas, with none on hand we’ll see how the oiling helps.  This time as well, I glued the water spout in place with hot glue, as the exterior finish is quite lovely and it needn’t compete with additional twine. That, and hot glue is easier.

And now the water flows once more, helping to balance out the sounds of the city. It’s joined by another, easy DIY lighting project, if you can call it something so grandiose. Inspired by The Art of Doing Stuff’s glowing orbs, I bought a run-of-the-mill glass globe from a builder’s basic light fixture from a thrift store for a couple of dollars, and filled it with a length of 50 outdoor twinkle lights.

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