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Ana Leal | Episode 692
Ana Leal is originally from Brazil and came to the US when she was eighteen to attend College. Ana fell in love with Pottery in 2011 by accident, when she joined a Pottery/Ceramics club through her work, which quickly became her passion. Now a retired Aeronautical Engineer and with her 3D Computer Aided Design background has given Ana an advantage when working with clay. Ana makes one of a kind wheel-thrown, altered, and carved pieces. Ana describes her work as tropical inspired with a 3-D surface texture that begs to be touched. She uses porcelain mainly for its translucency and whiteness which it’s like no other. Ana is hoping to make a positive impact on people’s lives through her art.
EPISODE 700 SMALL VICTORIES
Tell me about your small victories you learned from The Potters Cast. Tell us your name, Instagram Handle, and website. (I may steal a photo off one of your feeds for the show notes page)
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Is it accurate that you just charged whatever you could get for your pieces at first?
I tried to in the beginning when I was doing sales on Etsy, I would often compare something similar, like maybe they had some carving, and I would see what they were charging for that and try and compare and price close to that. But now that my work is lot more intricate and the designs I use, the carving, I am trying to find a way to streamline my process. That’s my goal for next year, is to create maybe an assembly line where I can be more productive making my pieces and see if I can reduce the hours in which I make my things. But I don’t want to lose the quality to I want to make something that is more refined but at the same time I don’t want to compromise the quality of my products.
How much of your story of your process are you able to demonstrate to the value?
Well I hope that people are seeing that because I am having more repeat customers. So obviously they see maybe the quality and I often get reviews from customers saying, That brought me so much joy! I am always happy when I hold your mugs. So I am hoping I am relating that to them.
How many shortcuts have you discovered without compromising the final product?
Right now we are in the process of building another house so we are going to move at the beginning of next year. And one of the things I want to have is a larger studio where I can have a better flow of how I make things. I am happy with my process I just need to arrange things to flow better and streamline the assembly and some of the glazes and try to see if I can spend less time doing those other things.
What is one thing you wish you would have known about pricing that you do know now?
I guess that I should have trusted that before. That people do see the quality and how much the product is worth. I think before I wasn’t confident enough to price my pieces what they should be. I had a friend of mine text me and say, Ana, if you don’t raise the prices of your pieces I am going to buy everyone of them from you and I am going to resell them for a lot more. And I said, I think you are right. So I am happy about that.
That’s what I would think, it was the lack of confidence early on. I think the quality of your product is important and it should stand out where you are comfortable pricing it accordingly. I think I was charging too low for what it is.
Book
The Complete Guide to Midrange Glazes by John Britt
Contact
Instagram: @analealpottery