Unexpected pleasures

Saturday morning I went to Chichester to exchange art pieces with my encaustic partner. She took home Room With A View to make a companion piece for it, and I brought home this little treasure:

The leaves at the top she said were wax poured into molds made of clay, then applied to the piece. There was so much to talk about (this was the first time we had actually met) that I never got around to asking how she managed to get them out of a clay mold! The smaller leaves under them, and some of the squares in the middle are actually glass encased in the encaustic! The squares at the bottom then are strictly made from the encaustic. Such a cool idea.
I set up this piece on the easel in the corner of my studio to study it for awhile and discovered something that I like very much about encaustic work in general: everytime I walk in the studio I get a whiff of beeswax! Great aromatherapy :)