If you’ve ever tried to build a soft-toned cottage, craft terracotta blocks, or make decorative flower pots in Minecraft, you know how frustrating it can be to run out of clay mid-project. Many new players struggle to track down this common but often overlooked resource, especially if they spawn in a dry, desert-heavy seed with few water sources. If that sounds like you, this guide breaks down exactly how to get clay in Minecraft, no matter what game mode or seed you’re playing on. We’ll cover everything from basic foraging to automated farming, so you never run out again for your next build or crafting recipe.
How to Get Clay in Minecraft Through Natural Foraging
Natural foraging is the easiest method for new players who don’t have access to farms or villager trading halls yet. Clay spawns exclusively in or near water sources, so you’ll want to head to shallow rivers, lakes, swamps, or shallow ocean floors to find it. Clay blocks are a pale light gray color, and they have a smoother texture than dirt or stone underwater, so they’re easy to spot once you know what to look for.
You can break clay blocks with any tool, but a shovel will speed up the process significantly. Enchanting your shovel with Efficiency will cut digging time down even more, which is helpful if you’re gathering large amounts at once. Each clay block drops 4 clay balls when broken with a regular tool, and you can combine 4 clay balls in a crafting grid to make one full clay block for building.
Java Edition players will find clay in blobs of 10 to 20 blocks per spawn, while Bedrock Edition players will see slightly smaller blobs of 8 to 15 blocks. Swamp biomes are the best place to forage clay, since they have tons of shallow, calm water that you don’t have to dive deep to explore. You won’t have to worry about drowning or dealing with underwater hostile mobs like drowned if you stick to shallow swamp water, which makes it ideal for early game gathering.
Farming Clay Automatically for Infinite Supplies
If you build frequently or play on a multiplayer server where you go through lots of building materials, an automatic clay farm will save you hours of foraging time. The simplest farm design uses the 1.19+ game mechanic where mud blocks turn into clay blocks when placed above a hanging pointed dripstone. You don’t need any redstone or rare materials to build this farm, so it’s accessible even for players who don’t have much experience with contraptions.
To build a basic farm, first make mud blocks by pouring a water bucket over regular dirt blocks. Next, hang pointed dripstone (which you can find in lush cave biomes) from a raised platform, then place your mud blocks on top of the dripstone. After a few in-game minutes, each mud block will convert to a clay block and drop below the dripstone for you to collect. You don’t need any rare materials to build this farm – all you need is dirt, water, a few pieces of pointed dripstone, and basic building blocks for the platform.
I built my first 5x5 clay farm next to my swamp base last year, and I haven’t had to go foraging for clay since. A small farm of this size produces enough clay for casual players to complete most builds, but you can expand it as much as you want if you need more supplies for large server projects. For a fully AFK version, just add hopper minecarts under the dripstone to collect dropped clay blocks and transfer them to a chest automatically.
Alternative Methods to Get Clay Without Digging or Farming
If you don’t have time to forage or build a farm, there are a few other reliable ways to stock up on clay, depending on what resources you already have available. These methods are especially helpful if you’re playing on a server with limited building space, or if you already have a steady supply of emeralds from other farms.
- Trading with mason villagers: Novice-level masons will sell 10 clay balls for 1 emerald, which is a very fair trade if you have extra emeralds from crop or coal farming. Cured mason villagers offer the lowest trade prices for clay, so you can get even better deals if you cure a zombie villager first to unlock discounted trades.
- Looting chests in generated structures: You can find clay balls or full clay blocks in chests in villages, savanna homes, underwater ruins, and desert temples. It’s not the most consistent method, but it’s a nice bonus if you’re already exploring these areas for other loot like enchanted books or diamonds.
- Killing endermen holding clay blocks: Endermen will occasionally pick up clay blocks if they spawn near shallow water sources, and killing them will drop the block they’re holding. This is a very rare method, but it’s a fun little surprise if you stumble on an enderman toting a clay block while exploring at night.
Trading is by far the most reliable of these alternative methods, especially if you already have a villager trading hall set up. If you’re playing in creative mode, you can also find clay blocks directly in the building materials tab, so you don’t need to gather it at all – but most people reading this guide are playing in survival, so we focused on survival-friendly methods first.
Pro Tips to Make Clay Gathering Even Easier
A few small tweaks can cut down your clay gathering time by half, even if you’re just using basic foraging methods. First, enchant your shovel with Silk Touch if you plan to use clay for building. Silk Touch makes clay blocks drop as full blocks instead of 4 clay balls, which saves you tons of time crafting balls back into blocks later. Silk Touch is especially useful if you’re foraging clay for large building projects, since you can carry way more full blocks per inventory slot than loose clay balls.
If you’re foraging in deep ocean areas, bring a potion of water breathing or a helmet enchanted with Respiration so you don’t have to surface for air every few seconds. If you don’t have access to enchants or potions, you can place a wooden door underwater to create a temporary air pocket to refill your oxygen bar. You can also toggle your debug screen to see exactly what block you’re looking at underwater, so you don’t waste time digging up dirt or stone by mistake.
If you build an automatic clay farm, place light sources around the entire structure to prevent hostile mobs from spawning on the platform or in the collection area. You don’t want to show up to collect your clay and get ambushed by a creeper that snuck onto your farm while you were away. You can also add hopper lines to transfer collected clay directly to a storage system connected to your base, so you don’t have to carry stacks of blocks back and forth every time you visit the farm.
At the end of the day, gathering clay doesn’t have to be a tedious chore that takes away from the parts of Minecraft you actually enjoy, whether that’s building, exploring, or fighting bosses. The method you choose will depend on your playstyle, how much clay you need, and what resources you already have available. For new players just starting out, foraging in a nearby swamp is the easiest way to get the small amounts you need for early crafting recipes. For players who build a lot, a simple automatic farm will give you all the clay you could ever want without extra work. No matter what you choose, you now know exactly how to get clay in Minecraft whenever you need it. Next time you’re planning a terracotta build or a batch of flower pots, you won’t have to pause mid-project to run around looking for this handy resource.