Table of Contents
Where to Find Clay
Clay can be found in several locations in Minecraft worlds:
- Along coasts and beaches – Clay often generates along coastlines and beaches, especially where there is a mix of sand and dirt. Check beaches in plains, deserts, and ice plains biomes.
- In rivers and shallow waters – Clay frequently spawns in patches underwater in rivers and other shallow bodies of water. Rivers are a good place to look.
- In swamps – Swamp biomes will contain clay deposits scattered throughout the land and shallow waters.
- In lush caves – The lush cave biome added in 1.18 contains abundant clay deposits. Lush caves generate deep underground, often under dark oak forests.
- In chests – Clay can rarely be found as loot inside chests that generate around the world. Check chests in structures like villages, dungeons, mineshafts, etc.
How to Mine Clay
Clay can be mined with any tool or by hand. Using a shovel is quickest.
- When mined without Silk Touch, clay drops 4 clay balls. Fortune increases the amount dropped.
- When mined with Silk Touch, the clay block itself is dropped instead of clay balls.
How to Farm Clay
You can create renewable clay by converting mud blocks into clay:
- Craft a pointed dripstone
- Place the pointed dripstone under any full block with air under it
- Use a water bottle on dirt to create mud blocks
- Place the mud blocks on top of the dripstone setup
- After some time, the mud will convert into clay blocks which can be harvested
What to Craft with Clay
Clay has a few crafting uses:
- Smelt clay blocks into terracotta – Terracotta is a decorative building block that can be dyed into 16 different colors.
- Smelt clay balls into bricks – Bricks can craft brick blocks, flower pots, etc.
- Craft clay balls into brick blocks – Brick blocks are decorative building blocks.
- Craft clay balls into flower pots – Flower pots allow you to place flowers and plants as decorations.
- Trade clay balls to Mason villagers – Novice-level Mason villagers will buy 10 clay balls for 1 emerald.
Tips for Mining Clay
Here are some useful tips for efficiently gathering large amounts of clay in Minecraft:
- Use a Silk Touch shovel to maximize inventory space
- Wear armor with Aqua Affinity, Respiration, and Depth Strider for easy underwater mining
- Bring doors to create air pockets underwater
- Use a boat to quickly traverse coastlines
- Employ branch mining techniques like strip mining to methodically mine patches
- Use the clay-diamond trick: find clay patches in rivers, dig down at the center to frequently discover nearby diamonds
- Build a fast clay farm powered by pointed dripstone
Clay Mining Step-by-Step
Follow these steps to mine a lot of clay quickly:
- Gear Up – Ensure you have at least one Silk Touch shovel, a Fortune shovel if possible, and aquatic armor enchantments to help with underwater mining. Bring doors and boats.
- Locate Clay – Search beaches, rivers, swamps, and lush caves for clay deposits. Also keep an eye out while caving normally or exploring the surface.
- Mine Efficiently – Use Strip Mining and Branch Mining techniques to systematically mine all clay in an area before moving on. This is more efficient than sporadically mining scattered deposits.
- Use Doors – Place doors underwater to create air pockets when mining clay underwater.
- Boat Travel – Use boats to swiftly move across coastlines and rivers to uncover more clay.
- Clay Farm – Build a clay farm with pointed dripstone and mud to generate infinite renewable clay.
Summary
Clay is an abundant decorative resource found near water above and below ground. Mine it with Silk Touch and Fortune for efficiency. Craft clay into terracotta, bricks, flower pots, and more. Employ clay mining techniques like strip mining, aquatic gear, air pockets, and boats to gather it quickly. Or use pointed dripstone to build renewable clay farms. Clay helps build beautiful Minecraft worlds!
