Tutorials/Building water features

This is a tutorial on how to build certain water/lava features, such as fountains and waterfalls.

Possible water/lava features
Here are examples of designs for several water features, including fountains, waterfalls, water walls, and a swimming pool.

Fountain
Fountains look great in large gardens, of as the center of attention in a yard. Also, they look great in the middle of a park, city, or amusement park.

Design 1
To build a simple and easy fountain, construct a 5X5 frame of any material you wish. Then, build a 3 block high column in the middle of the bowl. Just put water on top to finish it off, and you are done! Fountains look great in a yard or a large garden.

Design 2
To build a fountain just like Design 1 but for a little more complex, polished, and round look, try placing a row of three blocks 2 blocks from the center of the fountain, on every side, and then connect them with one diagonal block. See the following picture for a demonstration. This picture uses stone bricks as the building block.



Waterfall
Build a 1 deep, at least 3 wide all, however high you would like, to start. Then, build a barrier 1 block above the top of the wall, to prevent the water from flowing out the wrong way. Finally, add water on the top of the wall. Also, if you would like, you can build a 1 block deep trench at the bottom of the waterfall, so that the water goes straight down instead of all over the place. Waterfalls can be used either for a polished decoration, or an abstract nature decoration. Don't put a trench at the bottom if you want the waterfall to be abstract and look more natural.

Water or Lava Wall
Build a frame for your wall, however big you like. Build two more frames, all touching. The middle one should be 1 block bigger on the top and bottom. Then, add water in the top gaps! The water should flow straight down into the trench at the bottom. If it does, you did it correctly!

''Tip: To build an incinerator, make a wall, but use lava. You can throw all items that you don't want into it!''

Swimming Pool
Swimming pools come in all shapes and sizes, so a lot of what a swimming pool looks like is up to you. One trick that is necessary when building 2, 3, and 4 block deep swimming pools, is in order to put water sources in every empty space, start by digging only 1 down for every block, and put the water layer there. Then, for the deeper parts, dig however many blocks down you want that part of the pool to be, and the water should flow down.

Here is an example of how to build a swimming pool. This one has an L shape to it. Decoration and Accessories
 * 1) Build a 10 x 5 hole in the ground. Make it only 1 block deep.
 * 2) Build a 5 x 5 hole in front of the previous hole you made, connecting to it. You should now have an L-shaped hole.
 * 3) Fill all of the empty pool with buckets of water.
 * 4) Dig down 2 blocks for the 5 x 5 hole you made. Now you should have a 3-block deep pool in that section. This is the deep end of your pool (3 meters, or 10 feet deep).
 * 5) For the half of the 10 x 5 hole that's closest to the 5 x 5, dig down 1, to make a 2-block deep section. This is the medium end of your pool (2 meters, or 6 1/2 feet deep).Decoratedswimmingpool.png
 * 6) For the other half of the 10 x 5 hole, leave it how it is, to make a 1-block deep section. (1 meter, or 3 feet deep)
 * 7) You have finished the basic outline of your pool. Now add some decoration and accessories.

A pool can have many accessories added to it to make it more decorated and more fun. Here are some tips to make your pool better:
 * Make the bottom of the floor concrete.
 * Build a 3 wide concrete path around the perimeter of the pool and make it concrete.
 * Make diving boards out of quartz, quartz slabs, and ladders. You can make them 1, 2, and 4 blocks high for low, medium, and high dives.
 * Put potted flowers in each of the corners of the pool.
 * Use wood planks and ladders to make the base of a lifeguard chair. For the chair, use a wood stair with item frames beside it. If you want a roof to the lifeguard chair, use lime wool, using fence posts to connect the chair to the roof.
 * Use quartz slabs and light blue wool to make lounge chairs.
 * Plant saplings around the perimeter of the pool, and grow them into trees. Make sure you place them far apart from each other and not too close to the pool, because trees can grow very big sometimes.
 * Use glowstone for underwater lights (not shown in picture).