How to make clay balls in Minecraft

Clay has a multitude of uses in Minecraft. First, let’s look at what you can do with clay balls. If you are interested in building out of bricks you can cook clay balls in a furnace to make bricks. These bricks do not do much on their own, but with enough bricks you can unlock certain recipes.

With 4 bricks you can make a brick block by arranging bricks in a 2x2 form in a crafting menu.

If you are looking for a way to spruce up the interior of a home or a build, you can build a flower pot with 3 bricks. Place the bricks in a “V” shape to make a flower pot. You can plant saplings, cacti, flowers, and tall grass in these flower pots to add a little life and dimension to your builds.

Of course, if you are not interested in the availability of bricks, you can also use 4 clay balls to make a clay block. Place 4 clay balls in a 2x2 arrangement in your crafting menu to make a clay block. This will function identically to a regular clay block, but you have some crafting recipes open to you as well.

Cooking a clay block will provide you with terracotta. You can color groups of 8 terracotta with any available dyes to stain the terracotta.

While the terracotta looks great on its own, or in its stained variety, you can also cook dyed terracotta to make glazed terracotta.

It is worth noting that using a fortune enchanted tool to harvest clay does not actually get more clay balls to drop. While it fits within the parameters of fortune, it does not allow for extra clay balls to drop. Conversely, you can still use silk touch tools to obtain a block of clay to skip the step of turning clay balls into clay blocks.

This Minecraft tutorial explains how to craft a clay ball (formerly called clay) with screenshots and step-by-step instructions.

In Minecraft, a clay ball is an item that you can not make with a crafting table or furnace. Instead, you need to find and gather this item in the game.

Let's explore how to add a clay ball to your inventory.

Supported Platforms

A clay ball is available in the following versions of Minecraft:

Platform	Supported (Version*)
Java Edition (PC/Mac)	Yes
Pocket Edition (PE)	Yes
Xbox 360	Yes
Xbox One	Yes
PS3	Yes
PS4	Yes
Wii U	Yes
Nintendo Switch	Yes
Windows 10 Edition	Yes
Education Edition	Yes

* The version that it was added or removed, if applicable.
NOTE: Pocket Edition (PE), Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Windows 10 Edition are now called Bedrock Edition. We will continue to show them individually for version history.

Where to find a Clay Ball in Creative Mode

How to get a Clay Ball in Survival Mode

You can add a clay ball to your inventory in Survival mode by finding a block of clay to dig up. So, let's get started!

1. Find a Block of Clay

First, you need to find a block of clay to dig up. You can usually find clay under the water.

2. Hold a Shovel

You can only get clay by digging up a block of clay with a shovel. Select one of these shovels in your hotbar:

In this example, we are going to use a wooden shovel to dig up the clay.

3. Dig up the Block of Clay

The game control to mine the clay depends on the version of Minecraft:

• For Java Edition (PC/Mac), left click and hold on the block of clay.
• For Pocket Edition (PE), you tap and hold on the block of clay.
• For Xbox 360 and Xbox One, press and hold the RT button on the Xbox controller.
• For PS3 and PS4, press and hold the R2 button on the PS controller.
• For Wii U, press and hold the ZR button on the gamepad.
• For Nintendo Switch, press and hold the ZR button on the controller.
• For Windows 10 Edition, left click and hold on the block of clay.
• For Education Edition, left click and hold on the block of clay.

You will need to continue to dig until the block breaks and clay balls finally appear.

4. Pick up the Clay

Make sure you pick up the clay balls before they disappear.

Once you pick up the clay balls, they will appear in your hotbar.

A clay ball is a useful item and should be kept in your inventory to be used later.

Item ID and Name

Give Command for Clay

Things to Make with Clay

You can use clay to make items in Minecraft such as:

Other Clay Activities

There are other clay activities in Minecraft such as:

Clay is a block that can be found abundantly in lush caves, less commonly in shallow surface water or created from mud using pointed dripstone. It can be smelted into terracotta or broken into clay balls which are smeltable into bricks.

Obtaining[]

Breaking[]

Clay blocks can be mined with any item, but shovels are quickest. Destroying a clay block yields 4 clay balls. If broken with a tool enchanted with Silk Touch, it drops itself instead. Destroying a clay block with a tool enchanted with Fortune does not increase the amount of clay dropped.

1. ↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Natural generation[]

Clay is most commonly found underwater in swamps, beaches, oceans, and at the bottoms of rivers and lakes in shallow, crystal-shaped disks, disregarding adjacency to other types of blocks.

Clay generates in mason houses in plains, savanna, and desert villages, and under fisher cottages in taiga villages.

Clay generates in large quantities on the floors of ponds in lush caves.

Clay can also generate in lush caves in the form of blobs. Clay attempts to generate 46 times per chunk in blobs of size 0-160, at any height. Clay can replace stone, diorite, andesite, granite, deepslate, and tuff.

Crafting[]

Villager gifts[]

See also: Tutorials/Raid farming

In Java Edition, when the player has the Hero of the Village status effect, a mason villager might throw that player a clay block as a gift.

Post-generation[]

If mud is placed above a block with a pointed dripstone underneath, the mud eventually turns into clay, although the dripstone does not deposit any water into a cauldron.

Usage[]

Smelting ingredient[]

Note block[]

Clay can be placed under note blocks to produce flute sounds.

Sounds[]

Java Edition:

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

1. ↑ ID of block's direct item form, which is used in savegame files and addons.
2. ↑ Available with /give command.
3. ↑ The block's direct item form has the same id with the block.

Video[]

History[]

Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.11	Added clay blocks.
Clay generates naturally as clay blobs.
Java Edition Beta
1.8	Pre-release	Clay is now found as disks underwater mostly on the bottom of rivers, beaches, and oceans and is common in the submerged area of swamps and shallow "lakes" (1 and 2 meters deep) in large quantities.
Java Edition
1.6.1	13w17a	Clay can now be smelted into hardened clay.
1.7.2	13w36a	Clay is no longer found on the ocean floor.
1.12	17w17a	Clay placed under note blocks now make it produce flute sounds.
1.13	17w47a	Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 82.
?	Clay can be found in oceans once again.
1.14	18w43a	The texture of clay blocks has been changed.
18w48a	Clay now generates in the updated plains villages.
18w49a	Clay now generates in the updated savanna villages.
18w50a	Clay now generates in the updated desert and taiga villages.
19w13a	Mason villagers now give clay to players under the Hero of the Village effect, making clay renewable.
1.17	21w10a	Clay can now generate in the lush caves, though the biome doesn't generate outside of buffet or custom worlds yet.
1.18	Experimental Snapshot 1	Lush caves now generate naturally, making clay available from them in regular worlds.
1.19	22w14a	Mud now can be converted into clay by placing it above a block which has pointed dripstone underneath.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.1.0	Added clay blocks.
Clay generates naturally as clay blobs.
v0.3.2	Clay blocks now drop 4 clay balls when broken.
Clay blocks can now be crafted from 4 clay balls.
v0.3.3	Clay blocks are now available in the creative inventory.
v0.9.0	build 1	Clay blocks are found in disks underwater.
build 11	Clay can now be smelted into hardened clay.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0	beta 1.10.0.3	Clay blocks now generate in village mason houses.
The texture of clay blocks has been changed.
1.13.0	beta 1.13.0.9	Clay placed under note blocks now make it produce flute sounds.
1.16.220	beta 1.16.220.52	Clay can now generate in lush caves, though the biome does not generate naturally yet.
1.17.0	beta 1.17.0.50	Lush caves now generate throughout the Overworld behind the Caves & Cliffs experimental gameplay toggle, making clay available in vanilla worlds this way.
release	Lush caves have been made inaccessible in the full release, making clay no longer obtainable from them.
1.17.10	release	Lush caves can now generate naturally outside of the beta versions behind the Caves & Cliffs experimental gameplay toggle, making clay once again available from them.
1.19.0	beta 1.19.0.24	Mud now can be converted into clay by placing it above a block which has pointed dripstone underneath making clay renewable.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1		Added clay blocks.
		1.90		The texture of clay blocks has been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0	Added clay blocks.

• 

  Naturally occurring clay as seen on a dry surface.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Clay" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

• In real life, clay can actually be reddish-brown, not just gray, and can be often found under the surface and away from sand. This color is reflected in the appearance of terracotta, bricks, and flower pots.

Gallery[]

• 

  Naturally occurring clay blocks in a lake.

• 

  An artificially made clay floor with clay balls standing on it.

• 

  Clay can appear on the surface out of water as long as the block it replaces is dirt or mycelium.

• 

  Some clay that naturally spawned in a lake but replaced the dirt under a village farm.

• 

  Clay generated outside of water.

• 

  A large number of clay disks visible beneath shallow water.

See also[]