Clay

Clay is a malleable material formed from wet finely-grained natural rock, that has many applications. Clay can be shaped into Wet Bricks, which is the first step in the creation of the brick oven, or used as a Mortar to solidify Loose Bricks and Loose Cobblestone so they do not fall due to gravity, or packed into Unfired Clay blocks for use in Pottery.

Clay is harvested from Clay Dirt, typically found under water. Swamps and beaches are a good place to look for Clay. One Clay Dirt yields a piece of Clay when harvested with a Shovel.

Crafting

Name

Ingredients

Input » Output

Clay

Pile of Clay

Uses

Crafting

Name

Ingredients

Input » Output

Wet Brick

Clay

Unfired Clay

Clay

Piston Packing

Name

Ingredients

Input » Output

Unfired Clay

Clay

Mortaring

Right click on a Loose Cobblestone or Loose Brick Blocks with clay in your hand to turn it into a regular variant that will not fall due to gravity. Each block uses up one Clay.

Farming

Given its use in making Planters and Soul Urns, which are needed in large quantities, it is important to gather a decent amount of clay.

BTW adds new mechanics, which allows to farm clay using Silverfish in the End.

Silverfish drop clay when they are killed in the End
In the End, Silverfish activity is increased
Silverfish, when infesting a stone block, will breed and multiply. They will slowly break down the stone, producing clay and gravel piles

See Clay Farm for more information.

Keep in Mind

Breaking Clay Dirt without a shovel results in Pile of Clays and is less efficient.
It takes 16 Clay to make a Brick Oven.
Clay cannot be placed on leaves to dry.
If Clay is placed in a snow biome and it snows before it dries, the clay will not continue to dry while Snow is piled on the block it is sitting on. The Snow can be carefully removed by punching the snow under the Clay without removing the Clay itself and thus resetting its dry time.
Clay will not dry while it rains or snows.
Walking over placed Clay will cause it to pop off into an item.

Clay Drying Rack

Drying racks from the community
The simplest, safest way to dry bricks is to place them on a floating log platform, since mobs can't spawn on wood
A small stair can be added to the side, so you don't have to jump too much and waste food, as long as it is at least 2 blocks away
No blocks should be placed that allows spiders to climb up, so for example this platform isn't 100% safe since spiders could climb up the dirt
Once you can craft planks, it's easier to make a larger drying rack, to dry more clay every night. It is common practice to have at least 18 Brick Ovens in your base, to cook Iron faster