How Much Does Pottery Clay Cost?
Pottery is not the cheapest hobby to start. The initial investment in a pottery wheel and firing kiln is quite high.
But once you have all the necessary tools and equipment, you’ll only have to buy clay every now and then.
So let’s take a look at how much clay usually costs.
What is the price of clay?
The price of pottery clay depends on the brand, color, type of clay, amount, quality, and more. On average, standard clay costs around $3 per pound. However, premium and high quality clay can be two or three times as expensive.
For our comparison, we looked at some of the best-selling clays online. As you can see below, all the clays we looked at roughly costs the same amount.
| Clay | Price ($)* | Quantity (lb) | Cost per pound ($/lb)* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rocky Mountain Clay’s CT3 | 30 | 10 | 3,00 |
| Rocky Mountain Clay’s BMX | 27 | 10 | 2,70 |
| Rocky Mountain Clay’s Dover | 30 | 10 | 3,00 |
| Craftsmart All Purpose Air Drying Clay | 32 | 10 | 3,20 |
| Penguin Pottery’s Best Mix Five | 17 | 5 | 3,40 |
| Average | x | x | 3,10 |
*The prices mentioned above are rounded off and only serve as rough estimations. Please click the button below for the most recent price.
In the above comparison, we didn’t factor in the price difference for different types of clay, such as stoneware or earthenware clay. But this normally doesn’t result in a huge difference in price.
How much does air dry clay cost?
For people that don’t have access to a kiln, using air dry clay can be a good alternative. Of course, it’s not a perfect replacement, but it’s a good way to learn pottery as a beginner.
Just like regular clay, the price of air drying clay depends on the brand, color, type of clay, amount, quality, etc.
Below, we compared a few popular options. As you can see, the average cost of air dry clay was a little below $3, which is a little cheaper than regular clay.
However, unlike the regular clay, there was a wide range of prices for the air drying clays. So you can find the right clay for your budget.
| Clay | Price ($)* | Quantity (lb) | Cost per pound ($/lb)* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Craftsmart All Purpose Clay | 32 | 10 | 3,20 |
| AMACO Grey Clay | 24 | 10 | 2,40 |
| AMACO White Clay | 34 | 25 | 1,40 |
| Biggun White Clay | 25 | 5,5 | 4,50 |
| Average | x | x | 2,90 |
*The prices mentioned above are rounded off and only serve as rough estimations. Please click the button below for the most recent price.
How much does bulk clay cost?
Like many other products, clay can become much cheaper when you buy it in bulk. So if you are certain that you want to pursue pottery as a hobby, you can save yourself some money by buying a large amount of clay all at once.
For an example, let’s take a look at the CT3 clay sold by Rocky Mountain. The clay is sold in packages of 5, 10, 25, or 50 lbs, and the price per pound decreases rapidly, as shown in the table below.
| Quantity (lb) | Price ($)* | Cost per pound ($/lb)* |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 20 | 3,99 |
| 10 | 30 | 3,00 |
| 25 | 40 | 1,60 |
| 50 | 60 | 1,20 |
*The prices mentioned above are rounded off and only serve as rough estimations. Please click the button below for the most recent price.
So in this particular case, the price per pound drops by nearly 70% if you go for the largest bag of clay. And if you buy clay wholesale, you might be able to get an even better deal.
Of course, you don’t want to be stuck with a large amount of clay that you don’t need. So try to find the right balance between buying cheap clay and buying just enough.
How much kg clay do I need?
If you are new to pottery, you might not have a good feel for how much clay you need for each project. So it would be difficult to estimate how much clay you need to buy.
Of course, it will depend on what you are making and the dimensions. A mug or vase needs more clay than a plate. And the taller the vase, the more clay is needed. Additionally, as a beginner you normally want to use a little extra clay to make thicker walls.
However, roughly speaking for mugs and cups you will need 15 to 20 oz. of clay, for big plates and bowls roughly 3 to 4 lb, and for wine decanters and storage jars around 4 to 5 lb.
Conclusion
I hope this article gave you a good impression of the average price of pottery clay.
If you want to know how to choose the right clay, I recommend reading these articles on buying clay for the first time and the best pottery clay for beginners.
