The gift
A card, a print or a mug of somebody rendered as a small handmade object. It reads as effort in a way a filtered photo does not.
One photo in · A clay sculpture out · No sign-up
AI Clay Filter
Matte plasticine, softened edges, a faint thumbprint in the cheek — turn the face they know into a warm handmade portrait that tells them someone cared enough to shape it.
Material, not a colour washStill recognisably youFree credits to start
Before / after
Photograph, then plasticine
A real run on the model this page uses. Drag the divider and watch the sweater: the knit does not survive as knit, it becomes a smooth clay surface with a soft dent where a fold used to be. That simplification is the effect doing its job: an ordinary portrait starts to feel shaped by hand.
Drag to compare before and after
AI photo tool
What is an AI clay filter?
It rebuilds the subject of a photograph as if someone had modelled them out of plasticine — smooth matte surfaces, rounded volumes, a slightly oversized head, hair as sculpted strands rather than individual hairs.
Image tool
The appeal is oddly specific: clay is the one stylisation that makes a person look cared for. A cartoon flattens you, a caricature exaggerates you, a 3D render polishes you — but clay implies somebody sat down and shaped you by hand and left their thumbprints in it. It runs on the free image editor in the browser, image-to-image, with no sign-up wall in front of a first result. Drop in a simple, evenly lit photo and watch fine details turn into bold, expressive sculpted forms.
Creative engine
What the clay pass does
Upload a photo, say how stylised you want the sculpt, and generate with the estimate in view — a broken sculpt hands its credits straight back.
1 photo
Photo in
No sign-up
To try it
Credits back
Render errors
No highlight, or it reads as plastic
Real modelling clay has no specular highlight, so a version of you with glossy skin and a catchlight in the eye reads as plastic instead. The other half is a sculptor's subtraction: fine detail becomes bold, expressive form, so the portrait feels shaped by hand rather than passed through a filter.
Your own colours and background
A mustard jumper comes back as mustard clay, and the setting stays where it was rather than being replaced with a studio sweep. That is what keeps the result a photo of a sculpture of a specific person on a specific day, instead of a stock render.
Clay is one point on a scale of hand-made looks: the moving, thumbprinted version lives in photo to claymation, a glossy collectible object in the AI figurine generator, and the animated-film treatment in the Pixar filter.
How to use
From photo to sculpture in three steps
Start from the right photo and you are three steps from a portrait that looks sculpted on purpose, not filtered.
Pick a photo with even light
Flat, soft lighting converts best, because clay has no glossy highlight to inherit. Hard side light and phone flash both fight the material you are asking for.
Choose how far to push it
Ask for a bigger head and simpler features for the toy end of the scale, or a subtler sculpt that stays close to the real proportions. Both are the same run, one sentence apart.
Generate, then adjust one thing
If it comes back too glossy, ask for matte. Too plastic, ask for visible fingerprints. Changing one variable at a time gets you there faster than rewriting the prompt.
Who it's for
Who turns photos into clay
Gifts, profile pictures, pet portraits and brand feeds: anywhere an ordinary photo deserves to feel shaped by hand.
The profile picture
Recognisably you without being a photograph of you, which is exactly the trade a lot of people want from an avatar.
The shop front
Small brands running a soft, handmade look across a whole feed, where a consistent material matters more than any single image.
The pet portrait
Animals often convert even better than people: fur becomes sculpted clumps, and a quick snap of your dog or cat comes back as a one-of-a-kind handmade mascot.
Answers
Clay filter FAQ
How to keep the likeness, hold the scene and steer the finish toward unmistakable handmade clay.
They get thicker or they disappear. Thin metal has no equivalent in modelling clay, so the model either sculpts a chunky version of the frame or drops it entirely — the same choice a person working in plasticine would face. If the glasses matter, say so in the prompt and expect them to come back heavier than they really are.
Almost always the highlights. Plastic and clay differ mainly in how they catch light: plastic has a hard bright glint, clay has none. If the result looks like a toy figure, ask for a matte surface with no gloss and faint fingerprint texture, and it moves back toward clay.
Yes, and animals often convert better than people, because nobody has a fixed idea of what a specific dog's cheekbone should look like. Fur becomes sculpted clumps rather than individual hairs, which is exactly what a modelled version should do.
Ask for a subtler sculpt and normal head proportions. The default leans toward the toy end — slightly oversized head, simplified features — because that is the look people arrive wanting. Dialling it back is a sentence, and the result stays closer to the photograph underneath.
Scale and intent. This makes a still art object: smooth, studio-lit, something you could hold. The claymation treatment makes a character from an animated film — visible tool marks, a seam at the jaw, real fabric clothes, lit like a miniature set. Same material, different craft, which is why they live on separate pages.
It should keep it. The pass is meant to change the material of the subject and leave the setting alone, so a plain wall stays a plain wall. If the background comes back replaced, run it again and say to keep the original scene — the model is not deterministic and a second attempt usually holds.
Not to see a result. The tool runs on the free image editor in the browser with credits to start, so you can put a photo through and judge it before deciding anything. Saving your history and reaching the heavier models is what an account adds.
The estimate appears before you generate and updates with the resolution you pick. Failed generations are refunded automatically unless they broke the content policy, so you never pay for a broken sculpt.
Kavel pricing — you pay per generation, never per seat
Credits are shared across everything Kavel runs. You see the cost before each run, and a failed job is never charged.
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More tools
Other handmade looks
The same photo, rebuilt in a different material or a different craft.
Turn a photo into clay
Soft matte surfaces, rounded volumes and a thumbprint in the cheek — from a photo you already have, free to start. No account needed to see your first result, so drop in your photo and bring the clay version to life right now.