Flight risk

Playing with fire is not risky for a 24-year-old artist from Pulilan, Bulacan.

Since dropping out of college in 2021 for lack of money, Mejeyd Tribo has been earning a living selling art he makes using a lit candle.

After seeing another artist make so-called fumage art, Tribo practiced drawing portraits and scenes with soot from a burning candle as the medium. It took him two years to perfect the craft, including getting burned and sweating from the heat of the flame.

He also spoiled almost completed portraits with a slight stroke that erased part of the eyes, he told GMA News’ “Pera Paraan” segment. He had to repeat the entire process.

It takes Tribo about two weeks to finish one artwork. The cost of making fumage art is about P200, with one candle lasting for 10 to 15 artworks, he said.

On social media, Tribo sells an A3-size fumage artwork for P12,000, a bigger one can go for P20,000. He can make three to four artworks in a month, earning him P30,000 to P70,000.

Meanwhile, on the subject of flames, charging a mobile phone with a power bank is like playing with fire.

A man learned this while at the business lounge of Qantas Airways in Australia’s Melbourne International Airport last 6 November.

The man caught on fire when a power bank ignited in his pocket and exploded, NBC News reports.

The explosion that sent “battery acid flying everywhere” and smoke from the man’s burning jacket caused other passengers to panic, according to NBC News.

Firefighters arrived at the scene and evacuated people from the lounge. The victim, who was in his 50s, suffered burns to his leg and fingers and was treated in a hospital.