A flaming passion: Ex-miner creates everyday replicas with matches

Sculptures made from matchsticks by Janusz Urbanski are pictured at his flat in Ruda Slaska, Poland May 4, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

"It takes me 10, 12 hours everyday. Once you begin, it pulls you in, you want to finish fast and see the end product," Urbanski said. "You already have the next idea brewing in your head."

Urbanski believes he has used around 11 million matches since he first started making the sculptures, a hobby which began from a model making workshop.

He burns the heads before painstakingly gluing the matches together. His sculptures fill his flat and vary in size. The boat, named "Stefania" after his late mother-in-law, is 2.4 meters (7.9 ft) long.