This Philippine flag is made out of matchsticks

At first glance, it looks like a painting of the Philippine flag. But it's not.

YouScooper Julius Ceasar Apellado’s artwork is made out of thousands of matchsticks glued together.

Julius shared how he painstakingly glued some 19,680 matchsticks and used paint to complete the artwork.

Seven days later, he shared his work with Facebook page Guhit Pilipinas, a group page for artists.

According to Julius Caesar, he's been creating artworks made with unusual materials for a long time already. "Mahirap gawin pero maganda ang kakalabasan kahit ordinary art lang," he tells GMA News Online.

“Gusto ko sana ipakita sa exhibit at pagkatapos ay i-display lang sa bahay ko” says Julius, who was shocked with the amount of attention his post has received online.

He says he originally planned to paint the Philippine flag, but thought of using matchsticks to make the artwork unique.

“Dating 2017 nag-isip ako ng kakaiba, eh pumasok sa isipan ko yung posporo kaya pinagaralan ko muna at pinagisipan kasi  madaming palito ang magagastos ko, kaya ngayon ko lang nagawa pagdating ng 2018”

Comments poured in from netizens admiring his artwork:

“Napakalupit.”

“Galing”

“Napakahusay”

To those claiming his artwork is a fire hazard, Julius replies: “Lalagyan ko ng salamin o frame.” He’s also thinking of what artwork to make with the 41 empty matchboxes that came from this project.

He shares he spent more than P1,600 for the art project.

— LA, GMA News