I learned to make the self watering buckets by watching several youtube videos and then trying it myself. I made my own video about my buckets that I posted on steemit a couple months back. Here's the link to the post with the video.
https://steemit.com/greenhouse/@amberyooper/greenhouse-2017-video-number-2
You still have to put water in these, just not as often because they have a reservoir in the bottom that keeps the plant watered for at least several days, perhaps longer depending on the weather.