Some four million people are expected to visit the art installation: Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red by Paul Cummins at the Tower of London moat before Remembrance Day this year to help the nation remember the sacrifices of our soldiers in the First World War. The project, which comprises 888,246 red poppies, was created with the help of highly respected paint and finishings specialist, ISF Group.
Designed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First Wold War, the artist says he was inspired by a man who joined up in the very early days of the war, and who died in Flanders. Knowing that everyone was dead, and that he was surrounded by blood, the man wrote: ‘The blood-swept lands and seas of red, where angels fear to tread.’ From this line came the idea for the 888,246 ceramic poppies, one for each British or Colonial military fatality during the First World War.
Leicester-based paint and finishing experts, ISF Group, which was established in 1898, became involved in the project through the good work of its account manager, Kevin Osborne, who, in conjunction with artist Paul Cummins and Ray Quince of Quince Interior Contracts – who actually got the contract to make and spray the poppies, saw the project through to successful completion.
The work was carried out in a new factory in Derby at short notice and ISF was responsible for setting up the spray shop, practically overnight, installing six new spray finishing pumps, spray equipment and all relevant PPE equipment, such as air-fed masks etc.
This in itself was no mean feat as everything happened so fast in order to spray the poppies and finish the job on time with the 30,000 litres of paint the project required.
Originally the plan was to fire them with ceramic additives in the kiln. Unfortunately, this produced a ginger brown, ox-blood type colour and not deemed suitable for the representation of real life poppies.
After extensive tests in the ISF laboratory it was decided that our G-Col was the most suitable coating. Adhesion was perfect to the substrate and the fact that the G-Col System has excellent weathering properties along with a high gloss retention made it the obvious choice.
For extra protection the poppies were over coated with a clear high gloss topcoat again in the G-Col System. G-Col is a well established product from the ISF portfolio of quality coatings.
ISF Group is fast establishing itself as the company to turn to when the demands to paint onto particular substrates becomes challenging. ISF Group offers a variety of systems for a wide array of substrates wood, metal, plastic, ceramics and glass to name but a few.
Thanks to this one-stop shop approach it meant ISF had the knowledge and the means to set up a new spraying facility from scratch and have it up-and-running within just a couple of weeks!
ISF sales and marketing director, Mark Iliffe, says: “As well as manufacturing high quality coatings, ISF provides spray booths, spraying equipment and a full catalogue of sundry items meaning our clients can have a one stop shop and saves them from having several suppliers. Our purchasing power means we are extremely competitive in all areas of finishing requirements”.
Mark says he was ‘extremely pleased and grateful to all our staff & everyone involved in this project’ and went on to thank Paul Cummins and Ray Quinn especially for choosing the ISF Group as its partner in this historic project.
“It really has been a wonderful project to be involved in – to be a key part of the commemoration of such an historic moment in the nation’s history – we hope that the poppies, which are available to buy, continue to give years of lasting memories, helping us all to remember the sacrifices of the 888,246 who gave their lives.”
We will remember them.
