News / Blog

12/14/2011
A Work In Progress

12/14/2011
Autumn 2011 Haiku Contest WINNer Announced!

10/12/2011
My Dream

10/12/2011
Check This Out!

10/12/2011
Have You Seen Teddy's Fountain?

10/03/2011
Igneous Rock Gallery Haiku Contest Guidelines

10/03/2011
Summer 2011 Haiku Contest Winner Announced!

6/14/2011
WPMT FOX 43 Visits Igneous Rock Gallery!

6/14/2011
Video of Current Inventory

6/14/2011
New and Improved Landscape Lights

6/14/2011
Spring Haiku Contest Winner Announced!

5/03/2011
Fountain to be Auctioned at Derby Day!

3/24/2011
Simply the Best?

3/24/2011
An Enduring Tribute

3/11/2011
2011 PA Home Show Special

3/11/2011
Remembering Rick Alcorn

3/11/2011
Winter Haiku Contest Winner Announced! / Spring Contest Entries Welcomed

2/16/2011
Rest In Peace, Rick Alcorn

2/09/2011
Counting Past 130 and Balancing Rocks

2/09/2011
Autumn Haiku Contest Winner / Winter Contest Submission Deadline

2/09/2011
PA Home Show

2/09/2011
Igneous Rock Gallery Fountain Design Party Discounts!

2/09/2011
Sedimentary Rock Gallery?

11/17/2010
Current Special Promotions – Our Best Ever Offer!

11/17/2010
Autumn 2010 Haiku Contest

11/15/2010
One Thing Leads to the Next…

11/08/2010
I'm A Rock Star

10/15/2010
Sid and Gena's Indoor Fountain Sculpture

9/07/2010
Vacation Musings/Balancing Work and Play

9/07/2010
Igneous Rock Gallery Traveling Dog and Pony Show

9/07/2010
2010 Summer Haiku Winner Announced

9/07/2010
Igneous Rock Gallery Harrisburg Fall Home Show Exhibit/One Million Dollar Cash Giveaway!

8/10/2010
This One Could Be Yours

8/8/2010
Summer 2010 Haiku Contest Deadline Extended

8/2/2010
Jerry and Crystal Created Their Own!

7/13/2010
She Stole My Heart

7/13/2010
Table Top Fountain Workshop

6/17/2010
New Fountains

6/15/2010
Do You Want to Meet My Dad?

6/14/2010
The Year of the Creep

6/6/2010
My Impending Incarceration

6/6/2010
Spring 2010 Haiku Contest Winner Announced!

3/20/2010
First Quarterly Haiku Contest!

3/13/2010
Honorable Mention at 2010 Philadelphia International Flower Show

3/12/2010
Video of Valley Forge Display

Check This Out!




It's a video I shot of a rather cool fountain grouping that came together last week. This arrangement features five very slender and straight columns with strong color contrast. It still needs to be plumbed and formed. But the design work is done. Can you picture it at your home with water flowing down, lights shining up, and ornamental grasses waving in the breeze behind it?

I thoroughly enjoy the creative process of designing fountains with Beaver Canyon andesite. When I first started working with this unique material we didn't have many columns to choose among. It didn't take long to realize that you can't just take any three or five columns at random and come up with an arrangement that looks good. That is when I decided to take the plunge and order this rock by the multiple pallet loads. Still, there comes a point, even with dozens of columns yet on hand, when one recognizes that you can't do your best work without more columns from which to select.

Folks who participate in the creation of their own fountains get a first hand feel for the creative process. Some natural top columns start out with a slope that will result in a wet/dry look once water runs through and over them. If you want a wet all over look, the top will have to be cut and polished to some extent. Some columns lend themselves to a flat top polish, while others look better when the polished surface rolls down the side a bit – or a lot! We always start with the natural tops since you can't “un-polish” once the grinder touches the rock.

There are so many variables: color, height, girth; natural vs. polished tops. Do you like pencil straight columns or ones with "motion"? When it comes to color, some columns are beautiful in an understated sort of way. Others are brightly colored with lots of contrast and bold patterns. Sometimes I intentionally flank such showy columns with darker, more monochromatic ones to make the showstopper POP!

Right now we have a real good selection to work with. It is my hope that we can sell enough fountains in the next month or so to order more material before winter. The quarry necessarily shuts down when snow arrives, and then a lot of work is required to ramp up production in the spring.

Another shipment before winter – that is my hope. Now let's talk dreams!