Dyes let you color wool, beds, banners, concrete, terracotta, glass, candles, shulker boxes, leather armor and more. Minecraft has 16 dye colors, and each one comes from a different source: some from flowers, some from smelting, some from mobs and some by mixing two dyes together. This guide shows how to make every dye in Minecraft, with special focus on the colors players search for most: green, white, black, brown, purple and cyan dye. It also explains how to dye leather armor.
Quick answer: the most searched dyes
| Dye | How to make it |
|---|---|
| Green dye | Smelt cactus in a furnace |
| White dye | Craft from bone meal or a lily of the valley |
| Black dye | Craft from an ink sac or a wither rose |
| Brown dye | Craft from cocoa beans |
| Purple dye | Combine red dye and blue dye |
| Cyan dye | Combine green dye and blue dye, or craft from a pitcher plant |
How to make green dye in Minecraft
Green dye is the only dye you get by smelting. Find cactus in deserts and badlands, break the blocks carefully (cactus damages you when you touch it), and put the cactus in a furnace with any fuel. Each cactus block smelts into one green dye and gives a little experience. To get a steady supply, build a cactus farm: cactus grows up to three blocks tall on sand, and it breaks into items when it grows next to a solid block, which you can collect automatically with hoppers. Green dye is also used to make lime dye (green plus white) and cyan dye (green plus blue).
How to make white dye in Minecraft
White dye has two easy sources. The most common is bone meal: put one bone meal in a crafting grid to get one white dye. Bone meal comes from bones, which skeletons drop, and from composters. The second source is a lily of the valley, a small white flower found in forests, flower forests and meadows. Each flower crafts into one white dye. White dye is essential for lighter colors, because mixing it with another dye creates the light version: light blue, light gray, pink and lime all use white.
How to make black dye in Minecraft
Craft black dye from an ink sac, which squid drop when killed in rivers and oceans, or from a wither rose, a dark flower that appears when the wither kills a mob. Ink sacs are by far the easiest source: kill a few squid with a sword or trident and you will have plenty. Black dye is used for black wool, black concrete and dark banners, and to make glowing text on signs combined with glow ink sacs.
How to make brown dye in Minecraft
Brown dye comes from cocoa beans. Find cocoa pods growing on jungle trees in jungle biomes. When they turn orange-brown they are ripe; break them to get two or three cocoa beans. Plant beans on the side of jungle logs to farm more. One cocoa bean crafts into one brown dye. Cocoa beans are also used for cookies, and brown dye is popular for wooden-looking builds with brown wool or brown terracotta.
How to make purple dye in Minecraft
Purple dye is a mixed dye. Put one red dye and one blue dye in a crafting grid to make two purple dye. Red dye comes from poppies, red tulips, rose bushes or beetroot. Blue dye comes from lapis lazuli or cornflowers. Purple is needed for magenta dye as well (purple plus pink) and for purple glass, which is popular for Nether-themed builds and End decorations.
How to make cyan dye in Minecraft
Cyan dye has two methods. You can combine one green dye and one blue dye to make two cyan dye, or you can craft it directly from a pitcher plant, a tall flower you grow from pitcher pods found by sniffers. Most players use the mixing method because cactus and lapis are easy to farm. Cyan is a favorite for modern builds with cyan terracotta and cyan concrete.
All 16 dyes and their sources
- White: bone meal, lily of the valley.
- Light gray: azure bluet, oxeye daisy, white tulip, or gray plus white.
- Gray: black plus white, or closed eyeblossom.
- Black: ink sac, wither rose.
- Brown: cocoa beans.
- Red: poppy, red tulip, rose bush, beetroot.
- Orange: orange tulip, torchflower, open eyeblossom, or red plus yellow.
- Yellow: dandelion, sunflower, wildflowers.
- Lime: sea pickle (smelted), or green plus white.
- Green: smelted cactus.
- Cyan: pitcher plant, or green plus blue.
- Light blue: blue orchid, or blue plus white.
- Blue: lapis lazuli, cornflower.
- Purple: red plus blue.
- Magenta: allium, lilac, or purple plus pink.
- Pink: pink tulip, peony, pink petals, or red plus white.
How to dye leather armor in Minecraft
Leather armor is the only armor you can dye. Place a piece of leather armor and one or more dyes in a crafting grid, and the armor takes on the color. Combining several dyes blends them, so you can create thousands of shades, not just the 16 standard colors. On Bedrock Edition you can also dye leather armor with a cauldron: fill a cauldron with water, use dyes on the water to color it, then use the armor on the cauldron. To remove dye, use the armor on a cauldron of plain water. Dyed leather horse armor and wolf armor work the same way.
What you can dye
- Wool and carpets, by crafting a dye with white wool or by using dye on a sheep, which then grows colored wool. See sheep in Minecraft.
- Terracotta, glass and glass panes, crafted with eight blocks around one dye. See terracotta and glass.
- Concrete powder, crafted from sand, gravel and dye. See how to make concrete.
- Beds, banners, candles, shulker boxes, firework stars, sign text and wolf or cat collars.
Dye FAQ
How do you get green dye fast?
Build a cactus farm and smelt the cactus in a furnace.
Can you get white dye from bones?
Yes. Craft bones into bone meal, then bone meal into white dye.
What makes purple dye?
One red dye and one blue dye.
How do you make cyan dye without a pitcher plant?
Combine green dye and blue dye.
Can you dye iron or diamond armor?
No. Only leather armor can be dyed, but you can decorate other armor with armor trims at a smithing table.
Building dye farms
If you use a lot of one color, a small farm saves time. Bone meal from a composter or skeleton farm covers white. A cactus farm feeding a furnace covers green. Squid farms or simply hunting squid in oceans covers black. For flower dyes, use bone meal on grass to grow flowers instantly, or plant flowers in a flower forest and harvest them repeatedly. Wandering traders also sell rare flowers and dyes, which is handy for colors like pink and light blue.
Remember that some dyes can be made two ways, so pick the source that is easiest in your world. If you live near a jungle, cocoa makes brown dye effortless; if you are near the ocean, squid give you black dye in minutes.
Dye tips for builders
Before starting a big colored build, craft all the dye you need in one session and store it in a labeled chest, because running out halfway through is the most common frustration. Test colors side by side on a small sample wall, since concrete, terracotta, wool and glass of the same dye color look quite different. Mixed dyes like purple, cyan and magenta cost two base dyes each but produce two dyes, so they are not more expensive than single-ingredient dyes.