I can't find clay

[turret001]

Hey there, I'm a new player too! I've been playing solo for two to three hours now, and I've yet to find clay :(. I'm happy to see that forums are still active and thriving. This topic gave me the drive I needed to find clay, and find it I shall!

Attached are a few pics I took while searching for clay, enjoy.
 

[turret001]

UPDATE! I just found clay after posting the previous message! I wish you all the best of luck on your quest to find clay. 

[Kirb-B]

What worked for me was I just wondered around for a while going in one direction exploring. anything I found interesting I marked on my map and since you are not in winter food should be fairly abundant just run when you see predators and stay out of forests if your health is low.

[Inar Bloodyaxe]

I did some exploration experiment and the only place I found clay was in a plain biome with "rain: all of the time". In zones it was indicated "Rain: all of the time" I found clay at almost every water features, but as soon as it dropped to common it didn't seem to spawn. I'm in 1.20.12.

 

[Maelstrom]

In my most recent world, clay was scarce at spawn.   My first day goal is to find reeds, flint, sticks and grass so that my first night I dig a hole in clay, form the first essential clay items and knap a bunch of flint heads.

Welp in this world I ran and ran... and ran... and ran and ran and ran before I found clay about 2,500 blocks from spawn as the sun was setting on day 1 (and the threat of deadly things going bump in the night, specifically with me!)  Along the way I found bees, a couple of copper deposits, some ore vessels granting me 3 nuggest of sphalerite, limestone aplenty (where I am now housed), quite a bit of resin, a few packs of wolves also assisted me in finding clay.   I'm sure when I head back to those bees (which as about 500 blocks from spawn) I'll see clay all over everywhere.  >grumble<

[Maelstrom]

Methinks I should add some details and plop that story in the Humorous Stories thread.

[fleibader]

How to find clay? Followed all advice here including restarting a few times but no clay yet. Do I need to edit one of the game files to add it as a spawn?

[fleibader]

Also the guide needs to be fixed because building a shelter should be after finding clay, otherwise you got to abandon it anyway

[fleibader]

Right after I posted this found clay. I think the reason I couldnt find it is because I was looking at the sides of blocks not the tops, because in the handbook it shows the side of the block. For anyone else this is what you should be looking for

[TheProgrammer163]

On 3/2/2025 at 8:07 AM, Thorfinn said:

Welcome to the forums, @darkmage0707077!

I've been thinking about this a bit, and it's a bit more involved than I initially thought because there's no guarantee that you've selected a biome capable of having red clay. If you start on a mountaintop glacier, or chose an arid start, it might strain credulity. If you are a numbers geek, the min rain is 0.27, and the min temp is -10C. There does not appear to be a simple way of tweaking the area right around worldspawn without affecting the rate globally.

I believe a "trainer" of sorts can be had with the mod ParticlesPlus, where "smoke" rises from those deposits.

Cliff's Notes version -- if you have cattails, and see trees other than larch, and your rain level is at least uncommon, you are probably in the right place. If there are no cattails you might have to head south. If the rain is too low, head pretty much any direction.

"If you can't find cattails, you might have to head south"

That sounds like good advice. I will try this out

Edit: I found a lot of claystone which apparently isn't clay/cam't be used to make clay and I don't know why

Edit2: I found cattails!!!!! South from my spawn island. Haven't found clay there though, but panning gravel got me 2 blue clay so far.

Edited September 14, 2025 by TheProgrammer163
added some info again, found cattails

[iClawz]

Hi, I'm a new player and I agree that clay is "too" difficult to find.

I spent 6hrs looking for clay deposits and only found a small fireclay spot on top of a mesa biome... not in a low grassy area. And there was only enough clay there to make 1 and a half storage vessels. I see that clay is used for EVERYTHING, including building cobble walls, so naturally I want to build alot and will need alot of clay, but if I have to spend so much time to find it, it becomes a huge deterrent to play the game. Clay should not be that rare, Id gladly spend that effort looking for rare metals or plants, but not something I'm gunna need to mass produce.

Edit: After 11 hours I have found an area with, so far, 3 very large deposits of red clay.

 

Edited November 22, 2025 by iClawz