Clay
| Clay | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Resource |
| Location | Artifact Spots; Geodes; Clay Nodes |
| Sell Price | 20g |
Clay is a humble crafting resource that turns up whenever a hoe breaks fresh ground. Few early recipes need it, but the ones that do matter: the Silo that stores Hay for the winter, the Garden Pot, Retaining Soil and the Bone Mill. Later it also goes into the Dehydrator and Fiber Seeds. Because it only comes in small amounts, a farm can run short of Clay just when Robin is ready to build a Silo. Knowing where to dig for it saves a lot of frustration. As a gift it is a poor choice, since most villagers dislike it and several hate it.
The in-game description reads: Used in crafting and construction.
Location
Clay hides in ordinary ground. Hoeing untilled dirt or sand sometimes turns up a lump. Artifact spots, the wriggling worms in the soil, can give a few pieces along with whatever else they hold.
The Mines are the quickest place to dig for it. The dirt patches on mine floors give Clay more often than ground on the surface. A mine floor resets after leaving it, so the same patch can be hoed again and again. Those floors also hand out Cave Carrots and the odd artifact while digging. A Bomb dropped on a patch clears many tiles in a single blast, which speeds the work up greatly.
Cracking Geodes at Clint's Blacksmith gives Clay now and then. On Ginger Island, the Dig Site in the north has clay nodes that break with a pickaxe, which makes it the steadiest supply later on.
A few gifts and shops add to the pile. At the Feast of the Winter Star, a present from Jas, Leo or Vincent may be a lump of Clay. At the Desert Festival, Vincent sells Clay in his small shop for Calico Eggs. A dog at full friendship sometimes drops a lump after its first petting of the day.
Uses
The Silo is the first big reason to collect Clay. Robin builds it for a small fee plus Stone, Copper Bars and ten pieces of Clay. A Silo stores the Hay cut from grass, which feeds Coop and Barn animals through Winter. Setting aside Clay early means the Silo can go up before the first animals arrive.
Farming level 7 teaches Quality Retaining Soil, made from one Clay and some Stone. That soil keeps crops watered overnight much of the time. The Island Trader sells the recipe for Deluxe Retaining Soil, which adds Fiber and never dries out at all. Both are worth the Clay on a farm without sprinklers yet.
Evelyn gives the Garden Pot recipe in a short scene after the Greenhouse is restored. Crafting Clay with Stone and Refined Quartz makes a pot that grows crops of any season indoors. Robin's Carpenter's Shop sells the Brick Floor recipe, a path built from Clay and Stone.
Several later machines and seeds use Clay too. Gunther's Bone Mill takes three pieces, along with Bone Fragments and Stone. Pierre sells the Dehydrator recipe, and that machine needs Clay, Wood and a piece of Fire Quartz. Linus teaches Fiber Seeds after his "Community Cleanup" order, and each batch mixes Clay with Sap and Mixed Seeds.
Crafting Clay with the other materials below makes these items.
| Item | Image | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|
| Bone Mill | 
|
Bone Fragment (10), Clay (3), Stone (20) |
| Dehydrator | 
|
Wood (30), Clay (2), Fire Quartz (1) |
| Deluxe Retaining Soil | 
|
Stone (5), Fiber (3), Clay (1) |
| Garden Pot | 
|
Clay (1), Stone (10), Refined Quartz (1) |
| Quality Retaining Soil | 
|
Stone (3), Clay (1) |
Notes
Some fish in Fish Ponds ask for a few pieces of Clay before their population can grow.
Clay can also sit in a Fish Tank as a decoration for the fish.
At the Sewing Machine, Clay in the spool with Cloth makes a shirt. It serves as an orange dye at the dye pots in Emily and Haley's house.
Abigail, Evelyn, George, Haley, Jas, Marnie, Sebastian and Vincent all hate receiving Clay. Most of the other villagers dislike it.
All Resources
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
| Name | Image | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Bat Wing | 
|
15g |
| Battery Pack | 
|
500g |
| Bone Fragment | 
|
12g |
| Broken CD | 
|
0g |
| Broken Glasses | 
|
0g |
| Bug Meat | 
|
8g |
| Cave Jelly | 
|
180g |
| Cinder Shard | 
|
50g |
| Clay | 
|
20g |
| Coal | 
|
15g |
| Copper Bar | 
|
- |
| Copper Ore | 
|
5g |
| Driftwood | 
|
0g |
| Fiber | 
|
1g |
| Gold Bar | 
|
- |
| Gold Ore | 
|
25g |
| Green Algae | 
|
15g |
| Hardwood | 
|
15g |
| Iridium Bar | 
|
- |
| Iridium Ore | 
|
100g |
| Iron Bar | 
|
- |
| Iron Ore | 
|
10g |
| Joja Cola | 
|
25g |
| Monster Loot | - | - |
| Moss | 
|
5g |
| Radioactive Bar | 
|
- |
| Radioactive Ore | 
|
300g |
| Refined Quartz | 
|
50g |
| Rice | 
|
100g |
| River Jelly | 
|
125g |
| Rotten Plant | 
|
0g |
| Sea Jelly | 
|
200g |
| Soggy Newspaper | 
|
0g |
| Solar Essence | 
|
40g |
| Stone | 
|
2g |
| Sugar | 
|
50g |
| Trash | - | - |
| Trash (item) | 
|
0g |
| Treasure Chest | 
|
5000g |
| Vinegar | 
|
100g |
| Void Essence | 
|
50g |
| Wheat Flour | 
|
50g |
| White Algae | 
|
25g |
| Wood | 
|
2g |