Minecraft: How To Make All Dye Colors

Dyes in Minecraft can be used to make loads of differently-colored items. From dyed armors and beds to colored wool, concrete, and even candles, the possibilities are endless. Minecraft has 16 core colors, and the dye for each and every one of them is created in a different way. Some have numerous different means of crafting, while others have just one.

When it comes to building, dyes are one of the biggest assets a player can have, as it opens the doors to many brighter color palettes, that the natural colors of the game don’t allow for as much. This is amplified tenfold when it comes to dying leather armor, as dyes can be mixed and matched in a cauldron to create hundreds of unique colors that can be applied.

How To Make Dyes In Minecraft

White Dye

The white dye can be crafted in two different ways. Players can either place a piece of bone meal alone on a crafting table to create a single piece of white dye, or a lily of the valley on a crafting table to create one as well. Bone meal is obtained by placing bones into a crafting table, while lilies of the valley are white flowers found exclusively in forest biomes. They are most common in flower forests.

Black Dye

Similar to white dye, the black dye can only be obtained by placing one of two items alone in a crafting table. The more common of those two items is the ink sac, which is obtained by killing squids. The other option is the wither rose, which is gotten when the Wither kills a mob of any kind. A wither rose will be left in its place. Because these roses are rare and have other uses, it may be in players’ best interest to stick to ink sacs for black dye.

Gray Dye

The gray dye can be obtained in just one way, and that is by combining a single piece of black dye with a single piece of white dye on a crafting table. Doing so will yield two pieces of gray dye.

Light Gray Dye

Like gray dye, the light gray dye can be made by combining white and black dyes. One piece of black dye combined with two pieces of white dye will yield three pieces of light gray dye. Alternatively, combining a single piece of gray dye with a single piece of white dye will yield two.

The light gray dye can also be obtained from three different flowers, each providing one piece of dye when put in a crafting table. Those three flowers are the azure bluet, the oxeye daisy, and the white tulip. All of these flowers can be found in plains biomes, as well as flower forests. Bluets and daisies can also be found in meadows.

Brown Dye

Brown dye is maybe the most unique dye in the game, requiring cocoa beans to be crafted. Cocoa beans can be found in jungles, growing on the sides of trees, and can be planted on the sides of jungle wood to be farmed. Once it grows to reach its full size, it can be harvested for two to three cocoa beans. Each cocoa bean item can be turned into one piece of brown dye on a crafting table.

Red Dye

The first of the primary colors, red dye, can only be obtained through crafting. Poppies, red tulips, rose bushes, and beetroots can all be placed on crafting tables to yield red dye, with rose bushes yielding two. Poppies can be found in forests, plains, and meadows, and can be grown with bone meal on grass. Red tulips spawn in flower forests and plains biomes, and rose bushes spawn strictly in forests. Beetroots are less common, having a 10% chance of growing in any given village, but can be farmed indefinitely once found.

Yellow Dye

Up next for primaries is the yellow dye. A yellow dye is crafted by using one of two flower types, either the classic dandelion or a sunflower. Dandelions are incredibly common, being found in plains biomes, forests, and meadows, as well as being growable with bone meal. Sunflowers are much rarer, spawning exclusively in sunflower plains, but will yield two yellow dyes when used to craft.

Blue Dye

Finally, blue dye is the most annoying of the three primary color dyes to produce. It can be produced from two different items: lapis lazuli and cornflowers. Lapis lazuli is a dark blue ore that can be found underground and is primarily used for enchanting, as each enchantment requires one piece of Lapis. For this reason, players may want to avoid using this option for dyes, when possible. The other option, cornflowers, may be the better option. Cornflowers are blue flowers that can spawn in meadows, plains biomes, and flower forests.

Orange Dye

Much like gray dyes, the orange dye can be created by combining colors. By placing a red dye and a yellow dye together on a crafting table, players can create two pieces of orange dye. Players who would prefer to hold onto their red and yellow dyes can instead craft orange dye using orange tulips. These can be found in meadows, flower forests, and plains biomes, like other tulips.

Green Dye

One might assume that green dye can be created by combining blue and yellow dyes, but that is not the case. To create the green dye, players only have one option, and that is to smelt a cactus block in a furnace. Doing so will yield one green dye and even a little bit of experience. Since cactus can be farmed indefinitely, green dye is quite easy to mass-produce.

Pink Dye

The pink dye can be produced by mixing white dye with red dye. As usual, this will create two pink dye items, as it takes two dye items as ingredients. Alternatively, players can use pink tulips or peonies to obtain pink dye directly. Pink tulips can be found in flower forests, meadows, and plains, and yield one pink dye. Peonies are two-block-high flowers that can be found in forests, and give two dyes per.

Purple Dye

The purple dye can be created by combining red dye with blue dye on a crafting table, to earn two purple dyes. There are no purple flowers in the game, and as such, this is the only way to obtain this color.

Magenta Dye

There are loads of ways to make magenta dye. The most common means of doing so is by combining pink dye with purple dye, giving two magenta dyes. Players can also combine the base colors directly: two red, one blue, and one white to produce four pieces of magenta dye, or one pink, one blue, and one red to produce three pieces of magenta. If players would prefer not to use up their dyes, they can seek out alliums or lilacs. Alliums can be found in flower forests or meadows, giving one magenta dye each, while lilacs are taller flowers found in forests, producing two.

Light Blue Dye

Light blue dye is rather straightforward. Much like how white dye is used to lighten gray or red dyes, it can be combined with a blue dye to make two pieces of light blue dye. Another option is to use the blue orchid, which is the only flower in the game that is native to swamps and will give one light blue dye.

Cyan Dye

By combining blue and green dyes on the crafting table, players can create two pieces of cyan dye. As of 1.19, this is the only way to create this particular color.

Lime Dye

Finally, the bright green lime dye can be created by combining green dye and white dye, creating a pair of lime dyes. Like cyan, there are no other ways to create this color.