The making & installation of 888,246 ceramic poppies at the Tower of London

Every single red poppy in this photo was hand-made, commemorating 100 years from the outbreak of World War I. The installation was titled "Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red" and consisted of 888,246 ceramic poppies, each representing one British or Colonial serviceman killed in the War. The flowers were arranged to resemble a pool of blood pouring out of a bastion window, called the "Weeping Window."

The idea had originally been to place the flowers in a short 3 week stint but this evolved over time. The gradual planting with the use of thousands of volunteers drew countless stories of friends and family members serving abroad or lost in conflict.

The public was able to pre-order poppies as keepsakes after their use in the installation, with a share of the proceeds going to 6 charities benefiting service members.

The man with the plan: The installation was the brain child of this man, Paul Cummins, with setting by stage designer Tom Piper. The name of the project came from a poem found in a WWI soldier's unsigned will, found by Cummins among old records in Chesterfield. "The blood swept lands and seas of red, / Where angels dare to tread..." Cummins accidentally crushed his hand in an industrial roller during the poppy making process and had several surgeries, eventually losing a finger and the use of his dominant hand. He also received death threats because the poppies benefited "war charities," so that's awesome. :/

Remember that every one of these was hand made, from slicing blocks of terracotta clay to stamping and shaping, firing, glazing and welding.

Enumerable poppies drying before firing in kilns that reach upwards of 1,800 degrees F.

Double glazed and re-fired before going to the welder.

35+ artists and craftsmen came together at Cummins' workshop in Derby.

17,500 volunteers helped "plant" the poppies over the course of 4 months. For roughly 2 months during the installation stage, around sunset each day the names of 180 World War I service personnel, nominated by members of the public to appear on a Roll of Honour, were read aloud by a Yeoman Warder, followed by the Last Post bugle call.

Some press and art critics seems to have thought the project was kind of one-dimensional but the public appeared to support the effort, with 100,000+ poppies purchased in just the first 2 days of availability. Roughly 5 million people visited the poppies while they were on display. The installation doesn't speak to the circumstances of the war, who was responsible for it, the methods people used to brutalized each other... But to stand in that field and see each individual poppy, so lovingly crafted and individual, yet uniform and anonymous, I can't imagine it could be anything other than powerful.