Black dye is the darkest color in Minecraft and one of the most popular for builders. Black concrete, black wool, black stained glass and black terracotta give modern builds a sleek look, and black dye also mixes with white dye to make gray. There are two ways to make it, one easy and one advanced. This guide explains how to make black dye in Minecraft, where to find the ingredients, how to farm black dye in bulk, and everything you can use it for.
Quick answer: how to make black dye
- From an ink sac: put 1 ink sac in any crafting grid to get 1 black dye.
- From a wither rose: put 1 wither rose in any crafting grid to get 1 black dye.
Both recipes fit in your inventory’s 2 by 2 crafting grid, so you do not need a crafting table. They work on Java, Bedrock and consoles.
Method 1: Ink sacs from squid
Squid are the main source of black dye. They are passive sea creatures that swim in rivers and oceans, mostly in deeper water. Each squid drops 1 to 3 ink sacs when killed, and a sword with Looting adds more.
How to hunt squid
- Look in rivers and oceans, especially at night when more squid spawn in deep water.
- Use a sword with Looting, or a trident with Impaling for faster kills underwater.
- Squid release a cloud of ink and swim away when hit, so attack quickly.
- Squid cannot survive on land and slowly take damage there, so pushing them onto a beach makes them easier to kill.
Do not confuse squid with glow squid, which live in dark underwater caves and drop glow ink sacs. Glow ink sacs make signs glow but do not make black dye.
Squid farms
Squid spawn in water between certain heights in river and ocean biomes. A simple farm is a large pool of water in an ocean or river, a few blocks below sea level, with flowing water that pushes squid into a killing area. Mob farm designs for squid are edition-specific, so look up one built for your version.
Method 2: Wither roses
A wither rose appears whenever the Wither kills a mob. The rose is placed on the ground where the mob died, or dropped as an item if it cannot be placed. Each wither rose crafts into 1 black dye.
Advanced players build wither rose farms: they trap a Wither in a bedrock-protected chamber, usually below the Nether roof or in the End, and lead mobs into its line of fire. This produces a huge supply of wither roses, and so of black dye, but it requires defeating or trapping a Wither safely. See how to beat the Wither.
Be careful: a wither rose placed in the world gives the Wither effect to any mob or player that touches it. Mining it is safe. Potted wither roses are harmless.
Other ways to get black dye
- Wandering traders: sometimes sell black dye for an emerald.
- Fishing: ink sacs are one of the possible junk catches. See how to fish.
Which method is better?
| Method | Best for | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Ink sacs from squid | Early and mid game, small amounts | Easy |
| Wither roses | Late game, huge amounts | Hard |
For most players, a fishing trip to a river with a Looting sword gives all the black dye they need for a build.
What black dye is used for
- Black wool and carpet: dye white wool, or dye a sheep black so it regrows black wool.
- Black concrete: 4 sand, 4 gravel and 1 black dye make 8 black concrete powder; it turns into concrete in water. See how to make concrete.
- Black stained glass: 8 glass around 1 black dye. See how to make glass.
- Black terracotta and glazed terracotta: 8 terracotta around 1 black dye. See how to make terracotta.
- Gray dye: black dye plus white dye makes 2 gray dye. Gray plus white makes light gray.
- Banners, beds, candles, shulker boxes and firework stars: black dye colors all of these.
- Leather armor and wolf armor: combine with black dye to color them.
- Signs: use black dye on a sign to set its text back to black after another color.
See the full Minecraft dye guide for all 16 colors, and the guides to white dye and brown dye.
Black dye in Java vs Bedrock
Both editions make black dye from ink sacs and wither roses. On Bedrock, ink sacs also work directly in many dyeing recipes in place of black dye, a holdover from older versions, so you can sometimes skip the crafting step. Java always needs the black dye item. Squid spawning rules and wither rose behavior are slightly different between editions, so farm designs are not interchangeable.
Black dye build ideas
- Modern houses with black concrete frames, white walls and large glass windows.
- Black and white checkerboard floors from concrete or wool.
- Dark fantasy castles with black terracotta, blackstone and soul lanterns.
- Pixel art outlines, since black makes every shape stand out.
How much black dye you need for common builds
Black dye goes a long way because most recipes use one dye for eight blocks. One black dye colors eight glass blocks, eight terracotta blocks or eight concrete powder blocks, so a single trip that brings back twenty ink sacs is enough for 160 black concrete. Wool is the exception: dyeing wool in the crafting grid uses one dye per block, which is why most builders dye a few sheep black instead. A black sheep regrows black wool every time it eats grass, so two or three black sheep in a pen produce stacks of black wool and carpet with no more dye at all. Shearing gives one to three wool per sheep, so a small flock of black sheep keeps any build supplied.
Common mistakes
- Using glow ink sacs: they cannot become black dye.
- Touching placed wither roses: they give the Wither effect. Mine them before walking through.
- Dyeing wool one block at a time: dye the sheep instead to save dye.
FAQ
How do you make black dye in Minecraft?
Craft 1 ink sac or 1 wither rose into 1 black dye in any crafting grid.
Where do you get ink sacs?
From squid in rivers and oceans. Each squid drops 1 to 3 ink sacs, more with Looting.
Do glow ink sacs make black dye?
No. Glow ink sacs from glow squid make signs glow but cannot be crafted into black dye.
How do you get wither roses?
A wither rose appears when the Wither kills a mob. Wither rose farms use a trapped Wither.
How do you make gray dye?
Combine black dye and white dye to make 2 gray dye.
Checked by the Game Respawned editorial team against the current Java and Bedrock versions. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.