Where is the clay ?

[Lafra]

Somebody can help to find clay ? I shearch on the map gray color, but i find only rock there....

[Philtre]

Clay spawns in grassy, low-lying areas with moderate to heavy rainfall. Look on the map for oval patches of grass that are just a bit more blue (blue clay) or pink (fire clay) compared to the surrounding grass. Once you have found some, open the map and look at the color difference so you will recognize it more easily next time.

[daretmavi]

 

[Thorfinn]

I don't often play with a map, but as of the 1.16 (stable) release it looks to me as if you can't really distinguish clay or peat from the map anymore. At least I can't see the difference. It just comes down to wandering around the map, looking for regions like @Philtre describes. The clay is there. I usually encounter at least one of them on the first day. It's just not as easy to do as it used to be.

[Philtre]

53 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

I don't often play with a map, but as of the 1.16 (stable) release it looks to me as if you can't really distinguish clay or peat from the map anymore.

It depends on the grass color (which varies with location and time of year), but most of the time you can still spot clay and peat. It's definitely harder than it used to be, though.

[Thorfinn]

The only one that really matters is spring.

I just started a new game. From the given map, how would anyone have any clue he had access to peat?

And yet, clearly from the screenshot, I'm standing on peat!

Edited January 28, 2022 by Thorfinn

[Philtre]

The color difference is much more subtle, and it depends a lot on the grass color, but you can still spot them. I started up a new world and saw these on the map, went directly there: 

[Thorfinn]

Subtle? According to GIMP's color picker, the difference is non-existent. There are lots of pixels with identical colors which are not peat.

Please post your seed, and we can discuss.

 

[EDIT]

See, on your first screenshot, if clay were a uniform color, there are a couple tile right west of you that would be the same, with maybe one just north of it reflecting the color of clay with grass growing on it. And yet, not so much.

On the second screenshot, one would expect the low-fertility soil, having the same cover, would be the same color. Nope. Not so much.

Check it and see. See if GIMP agrees with you.

[/EDIT]

 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Thorfinn

[Philtre]

I dunno. The color difference does look less visible in the screenshot - but the image gets compressed/downsampled to make the png file, and colors get simplified as part of that. But I found those areas on the map while still a few minutes' walk away, put down the markers I'm standing next to in the screenshots, and went to the marked spots. And they had the clay/peat. And I don't think it was just wild luck, since I've been using the map to find stuff just as much since 1.16 as before. It's definitely harder, and you're much more likely to miss stuff, but it's still doable (except in autumn - the browner grass just masks everything colorwise for some reason).

Edit: the clay (and peat, for that matter) is indeed not "a uniform color". But it varies relative to the colors around it in a way that doesn't correspond to the shading caused by the topology; there's a roughly oval area that has a overall slightly bluer shade, despite the various shadows and highlights. Similarly, the peat is a roundish area that is consistently slightly more brown/red than the surrounding areas.

Seed: 875844952

Settings:

{
  "worldClimate": "realistic",
  "gameMode": "survival",
  "temporalStability": true,
  "temporalStorms": "off",
  "graceTimer": "10",
  "microblockChiseling": "all",
  "polarEquatorDistance": "25000",
  "harshWinters": "true",
  "daysPerMonth": "9",
  "saplingGrowthRate": "2",
  "allowUndergroundFarming": false,
  "temporalGearRespawnUses": "-1",
  "temporalStormSleeping": "1",
  "startingClimate": "temperate",
  "spawnRadius": "50",
  "deathPunishment": "keep",
  "seasons": "enabled",
  "playerlives": "-1",
  "blockGravity": "sandgravel",
  "bodyTemperatureResistance": "0",
  "creatureHostility": "off",
  "creatureStrength": "1",
  "playerHealthPoints": "15",
  "playerHungerSpeed": "1",
  "playerMoveSpeed": "1.5",
  "foodSpoilSpeed": "1",
  "toolDurability": "1",
  "toolMiningSpeed": "1",
  "propickNodeSearchRadius": "8",
  "globalDepositSpawnRate": "1",
  "allowCoordinateHud": true,
  "allowMap": true,
  "tempstormDurationMul": "1",
  "temporalRifts": "off",
  "worldWidth": "1024000",
  "worldLength": "1024000",
  "worldEdge": "traversable",
  "globalTemperature": "1",
  "globalPrecipitation": "1",
  "globalForestation": "0",
  "surfaceCopperDeposits": "0.12",
  "surfaceTinDeposits": "0.007",
  "snowAccum": "true",
  "allowLandClaiming": true,
  "classExclusiveRecipes": false,
  "auctionHouse": true,
  "playstyle": "surviveandbuild"
}

Edited January 28, 2022 by Philtre
Explain what the color difference looks like in more detail

[Lafra]

Thank you very much for your advice. I found clay far from home with your details. :)

 

[Thorfinn]

On review, I'm going to agree, @Philtre. I stared at a couple zoomed in maps and correctly identified 11 locations, 6 peat, 2 fireclay and 3 blue clay. No false positives.

There were also 6 deposits of all three types that I stumbled across checking out my suspected deposits, and even when I knew exactly where to look, could not tell it from looking at the map.

I think probably what happened is that when I first installed 1.16, the deposits I first found were the stealth ones. I could not distinguish them at all, and just assumed none were detectable.

[Velynicus]

I cannot freakin find clay. I'm reading and rereading this post. Zooming in...comparing to my all color map. Nada! Still wandering the countryside.... 

[LadyWYT]

36 minutes ago, David Weisser said:

I cannot freakin find clay. I'm reading and rereading this post. Zooming in...comparing to my all color map. Nada! Still wandering the countryside.... 

Welcome to the forums! Prior to 1.20, clay can be found in two varieties scattered in large deposits through the cool to tropical climate zones, in areas where there is enough rainfall. Blue clay will have a brown/bluish-gray marbled texture, while fire clay will have a tan-brown marbling instead. Of the two, fire clay is the more valuable, as it's a required ingredient for refractories, bloomeries, and ovens(though it can be used for conventional pottery items as well).

In 1.20, fire clay only spawns naturally under black coal and anthracite deposits. Red clay and blue clay are the most common clays and follow the same general spawn parameters as previous versions(large deposits in cool-tropical areas with enough rainfall). The only real difference between the two is that red clay has a reddish-brown marbled texture and spawn at higher elevations, while blue clay retains the same texture as before and spawns near sea level. You can craft fire clay from red or blue clay simply by mixing in some powder calcined flint(created by cooking flint and grinding up the resulting chunks).

If you are playing with true map coloring enabled, it is possible to locate clay deposits by looking for discolored spots, but it does take practice and isn't always accurate. It's usually easier to keep an eye out for the marbled clay textures on patches of soil while you're exploring, and marking the deposits on your map as you find them. Once you've found a few, it gets easier to spot them from further away or on your map(when playing with true coloring enabled).

[N0ma13]

2 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

In 1.20, fire clay only spawns naturally under black coal and anthracite deposits. Red clay and blue clay are the most common clays and follow the same general spawn parameters as previous versions(large deposits in cool-tropical areas with enough rainfall). The only real difference between the two is that red clay has a reddish-brown marbled texture and spawn at higher elevations, while blue clay retains the same texture as before and spawns near sea level. You can craft fire clay from red or blue clay simply by mixing in some powder calcined flint(created by cooking flint and grinding up the resulting chunks).

Will red/blue fireclay have different textures?
IE: Can I haz blue oven?
 

[LadyWYT]

3 hours ago, N0ma13 said:

Will red/blue fireclay have different textures?
IE: Can I haz blue oven?
 

Only if you mod it to be so. Fire clay just has the one color, no alternates. But if you like building with brick, red and blue clay do offer different colors, especially when fired in a beehive kiln.

[N0ma13]

28 minutes ago, LadyWYT said:

Only if you mod it to be so. Fire clay just has the one color, no alternates. But if you like building with brick, red and blue clay do offer different colors, especially when fired in a beehive kiln.

hmm sad. if blue clay can be used to make it, it should be blue. Maybe they'll fix that

[masterminer176]

Getting back to the topic at hand, while I'm sure that the environmental factors are *quite* important to where the clay spawns, that's not exactly something that's easy to gauge while you're playing most of the time (at least from my experience so far).
What I noticed (and how I ended up finding my first patch of clay) is that The Grass is always Sparse on clay blocks, so you can see the clay through it. And the red clay tends to spawn in the Plains(? the flat area with the stone pillars & ponds sometimes) biome.

Not sure if OP still needs the help here, but I feel it's good to give my two cents for any future players new to the game such as myself.

[Human17]

I had a REALLY hard time finding clay initially. I had to explore quite far and wide to find it. All my attempts at looking at the map or top of soil to find it were futile.

The way I found it has always been on the side of small hills - basically you will be able to spot smooth looking, red/pink colour of the soil.

I also noticed that some areas can have quite a lot, while other areas have very little. Pretty sure you want areas with plenty of rain and some water + grasslands. I have never found any in rocky terrain or high elevations.

Explore ~800 blocks in each direction and switch up your paths. You'll stumble upon a deposit eventually! Consider not sprinting, but walking as well - it'll help!

100 game hours in, I'm yet to spot any blue or fire clay. Only red.

Edited May 16, 2025 by Human17

[Maelstrom]

2 hours ago, Human17 said:

switch up your paths.

You'll also be more likely to find other resources, like wild crops, surface ores (most importantly copper, though), in forests bees, etc.

Blue clay is more rare than red clay and fire clay will typically only be found under black coal deposits; which means for me, I'll never find it.

[Jaik714]

On 1/27/2022 at 5:06 PM, daretmavi said:

 

After hours of running off in different directions from my base I finally found clay today. I was convinced there wasn't any on this map. It's out there. Just keep looking and you'll find it. Just like I did.

[Kreeate]

3 hours ago, Jaik714 said:

After hours of running off in different directions from my base I finally found clay today. I was convinced there wasn't any on this map. It's out there. Just keep looking and you'll find it. Just like I did.

It's three years later... pretty sure they've found clay by now

[Moltrey]

I think the biggest help at least in the long-term is to work on training your eyes to passively scan the sides and tops of soil blocks as you scoot through your world. It does take some persistence and perseverance though. I am blessed with an overactive perception for the mundane IRL, which ends up being both a blessing and a curse at times.

It's worth the time and at least at first turning on the full color map in my book.