Dye
Dyes are a set of 16 items used to change the color of wool, leather armor, terracotta, certain mobs, the patterns on banners, shulker boxes, glass, concrete powder, candles, and beds.
Contents
- 1 Obtaining
- 2 Usage
- 2.1 Dyeing wool and mobs
- 2.2 Dyeing terracotta
- 2.3 Staining glass
- 2.4 Dyeing armor
- 2.5 Dyeing firework stars
- 2.6 Banner patterns
- 2.7 Dyeing shulker boxes
- 2.8 Creating concrete powder
- 2.9 Creating balloons
- 2.10 Creating glow sticks
- 2.11 Dyeing beds
- 2.12 Dyeing water inside cauldrons
- 2.13 Dyeing candles
- 2.14 Signs
- 2.15 Trading
- 2.16 Other uses
- 3 Colors
- 4 Color values
- 5 Sounds
- 6 Achievements
- 7 Video
- 8 History
- 9 Trivia
- 10 References
Obtaining[edit]
Most dyes are produced by crafting or smelting various flowers, sea pickles, beetroot, cactus, lapis lazuli, ink sacs, cocoa beans, bonemeal, or by combining other dyes.
Crafting
Smelting[edit]
Name | Ingredients | Smelting recipe |
---|---|---|
Green Dye | Cactus + Any fuel |
|
Lime Dye | Sea Pickle + Any fuel |
Ingredients | Smelting recipe | Description |
---|---|---|
Lapis Lazuli Ore + Any fuel |
[Bedrock and Education editions only] |
Trading[edit]
Wandering traders can sell 3 dyes for an emerald.
In Bedrock Edition, wandering traders can sell 3 lapis lazuli, bone meal, cocoa beans, or ink sacs for one emerald.
Apprentice-level cleric Villagers sell one lapis lazuli per emerald.
Other[edit]
Blue dye can be crafted from Lapis Lazuli, which is mined from ores underground in amounts of 4–8 per block.
Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
---|---|---|---|---|
Java Edition | ||||
Lapis Lazuli | Mineshaft | Chest | 4–9 | 16.9% |
Shipwreck | Treasure chest | 1–10 | 61.5% | |
Village | Temple chest | 1–4 | 25.4% | |
Bedrock Edition | ||||
Lapis Lazuli | Mineshaft | Chest | 4–9 | 16.9% |
Village | Temple chest | 1–4 | 25.4% |
Brown dye can be crafted from cocoa beans, which are harvested from cocoa pods in amounts of 1–3 per fully grown pod. A pod that is not fully grown yields one cocoa bean.
Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bedrock Edition | ||||
Cocoa Beans | Bonus chest | Chest | 1–2 | 40% |
Black dye can be crafted from ink sacs, which can be dropped when a squid dies, in amounts of 1–3 per squid. Using the Looting enchantment can increase this amount.
Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bedrock Edition | ||||
Ink Sac | Stronghold | Storeroom chest | 1–3 | 40% |
Ink sacs can also be created using 1 iron, 1 sulfur, and 4 oxygen in the compound creator[Bedrock and Education editions only].
Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
---|---|---|---|---|
Java Edition | ||||
Green Dye | Village | Desert house chest | 1 | 14.3% |
Bedrock Edition | ||||
Green Dye | Village | Desert house chest | 1 | 14.3% |
Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
---|---|---|---|---|
Java Edition | ||||
Yellow Dye | Village | Mason's chest | 1 | 20.8% |
Bedrock Edition | ||||
Yellow Dye | Village | Mason's chest | 1 | 20.8% |
Usage[edit]
Dyeing wool and mobs[edit]
Players can dye wool by placing white wool and a dye in a crafting grid. [Java Edition only]
Players can dye wool by placing any wool and a dye in a crafting grid. Any wool can be redyed. [Bedrock Edition only]
Ingredients | Crafting recipe | Description |
---|---|---|
White Wool + Matching Dye |
[Java Edition only] |
Ingredients | Crafting recipe | Description |
---|---|---|
Any Wool + Matching Dye |
[Bedrock Edition only] |
Dyes can be used on sheep to change the color of the wool. Shearing a colored sheep drops the corresponding color of the wool, and the sheep retains the color when the wool regenerates. Breeding colored sheep produces a lamb colored as one of the parent sheep, or a color resulting from the combination of both parents' color. The color combining follows the same rules that dyes use – red and yellow sheep produce an orange lamb, but a blue and yellow sheep cannot create a green lamb. The unlimited reproduction of colored sheep makes dyeing and shearing sheep infinitely more efficient than just dyeing wool directly.
Dye can also be used on tamed wolves and cats. Using a dye on one of these tamed animals changes the color of its collar from the default red to the color of the dye.
Dyeing terracotta[edit]
Terracotta can be dyed by placing 8 blocks around a dye on a crafting table.
Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
---|---|
Terracotta + Matching Dye |
Staining glass[edit]
Stained glass can be stained by placing 8 blocks of glass around a dye on a crafting table. Just like regular glass, stained glass can be crafted into stained glass panes. The recipe for this is the same as with regular glass.
Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
---|---|---|
Stained Glass | Glass + Matching Dye |
|
Stained Glass Pane | Glass Pane + Matching Dye |
Dyeing armor[edit]

Leather armor can be dyed by:
- Crafting dyes with a piece of leather armor or leather horse armor.[Java Edition only]
- Dousing the leather armor or leather horse armor in a cauldron to which dyes have been added.[Bedrock Edition only]
There are 12,326,391 (73.4% of sRGB) colors leather armor can be, as it is possible to put more than one dye on the crafting bench alongside the leather armor. Armor can be dyed multiple times with previous colors affecting the final outcome. Colored armor can be reverted to their original color using a cauldron with undyed water.
The game has a specific formula for calculating the color of dyed armor: each color, in the RGB color model, has a red value, green value, and blue value. For each dye in the crafting grid, and the armor itself (if it is already dyed), the red, green, and blue values are added to running totals. In addition, a running total of the highest value (be it red, green, or blue) is also kept. After this, each total is divided by the number of colors used. This effectively produces the average red, green, blue, and maximum values. The maximum value of the average RGB values is also calculated. Finally, each average RGB value is multiplied by the average maximum value and divided by the maximum of the average RGB values. The modified average RGB values are then used as the final color. This procedure can be summed up with the following equations:
for each color (all "total" variables start at 0 before counting): totalRed = totalRed + redValue totalGreen = totalGreen + greenValue totalBlue = totalBlue + blueValue totalMaximum = totalMaximum + max(red, green, blue) numberOfColors = numberOfColors + 1 averageRed = totalRed / numberOfColors averageGreen = totalGreen / numberOfColors averageBlue = totalBlue / numberOfColors averageMaximum = totalMaximum / numberOfColors maximumOfAverage = max(averageRed, averageGreen, averageBlue) gainFactor = averageMaximum / maximumOfAverage resultRed = averageRed * gainFactor resultGreen = averageGreen * gainFactor resultBlue = averageBlue * gainFactor
Due to the way this formula works, the resulting color can never be darker than the average of the input colors and is often lighter and more saturated. Of course, the resulting color can never be lighter or more saturated than the lightest or most saturated input color. In addition, this formula never creates an RGB value higher than 255 (which would be invalid in the 8-bit RGB color model).
If leather armor is renamed on an anvil, it retains its name when dyed or undyed.
Dyeing firework stars[edit]
A firework star can have a single color or a combination of up to eight colors when crafted with dyes. Adding one or more dyes to a crafted firework star adds a "fade to color" effect to it, overwriting any existing fade colors.
Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
---|---|---|
Firework Star | Gunpowder + Any Dye (1–8) + Extra ingredient (optional) |
|
Firework Star | Matching Firework Star + Any Dye |
Banner patterns[edit]
Dyes are used in most banner patterns to determine the pattern and color displayed.
Dyeing shulker boxes[edit]
Shulker boxes are generated in a light shade of purple (like the purpur block), but can be dyed any color. They can also be re-dyed as often as desired.
Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
---|---|---|
Shulker Box | Any Shulker Box + Matching Dye |
Creating concrete powder[edit]
Dyes can also be used to craft concrete powder, which can then be set into their respective concrete blocks (they cannot be dyed directly).
Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
---|---|
Sand + Gravel + Matching Dye |
Creating balloons[edit]
Dye can be used to craft balloons.[Bedrock and Education editions only]
Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
---|---|
Latex + Matching Dye + Helium + Lead |
Creating glow sticks[edit]
Dye can also be used to craft glow sticks.[Bedrock and Education editions only]
Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
---|---|
Polyethylene + Hydrogen Peroxide + Matching Dye + Luminol |
Dyeing beds[edit]
Players can dye beds by placing a white bed and any color dye in a crafting grid. Only white beds can be dyed. [Java Edition only]
Players can dye beds by placing any bed and any color dye in a crafting grid. Beds can be redyed. [Bedrock Edition only]
Ingredients | Crafting recipe | Description |
---|---|---|
White Bed + Matching Dye |
[Java Edition only] |
Ingredients | Crafting recipe | Description |
---|---|---|
Any Bed + Matching Dye |
[Bedrock Edition only] |
Dyeing water inside cauldrons[edit]
Water can be dyed in a cauldron by holding any dye in the hand and pressing use on a cauldron filled with water.[Bedrock Edition only]
Dyeing candles[edit]
Players can dye candles by placing an undyed candle and any color dye in a crafting grid.[upcoming: JE 1.17]
Ingredients | Crafting recipe | Description |
---|---|---|
Candle + Matching Dye |
[upcoming: JE 1.17] |
Signs[edit]
Dye can be used on a sign to change the text color.[Java Edition only]
Trading[edit]
Shepherd villagers can buy 12 dyes.
Other uses[edit]
Dyes have other uses specific to those colors[Bedrock Edition only]; see their separate articles for details.
- Ink sacs are used to craft dark prismarine and book and quill, and sold to librarian villager.
- Cocoa beans are used to craft cookies and can be planted on the side of a jungle wood block to grow more cocoa beans.
- Lapis lazuli is used in enchanting and to craft the lapis lazuli block.
- Bone meal is used to fertilize various plants, craft the bone block, and create huge mushrooms.
These items all have dye color equivalents.
Colors[edit]
Primary[edit]
These primary dyes are created only from ingredients spawned naturally in a world.
Name | Source |
---|---|
Black Dye | Ink Sac (crafting) Wither Rose (crafting) |
Blue Dye | Lapis Lazuli (crafting) Cornflower (crafting) |
Brown Dye | Cocoa Beans (crafting) |
Green Dye | Cactus (smelting) |
Red Dye | Poppy (crafting) Rose Bush (crafting) Red Tulip (crafting) Beetroot (crafting) |
White Dye | Bone Meal (crafting) Lily of the Valley (crafting) |
Yellow Dye | Dandelion (crafting) Sunflower (crafting) |
Name | Source |
---|---|
Ink Sac [Bedrock Edition only] | Squid (killed) Iron (1)+Sulfur (1)+Oxygen (4) (compound) |
Lapis Lazuli [Bedrock Edition only] | Lapis Lazuli Ore (mining) Lapis Lazuli Ore (smelting) Lapis Lazuli Block (crafting) |
Cocoa Beans [Bedrock Edition only] | Cocoa Pod (breaking) |
Bone Meal [Bedrock Edition only] | Bone (crafting) Bone Block (crafting) |
Quasi-Primary[edit]
These dyes can be created from a single ingredient spawned naturally in a world, or by combining other dyes.
Name | Source | Crafting |
---|---|---|
Light Blue Dye | Blue Orchid (crafting) | Blue Dye[subst 1] + White Dye[subst 2] |
Light Gray Dye | Azure Bluet (crafting) Oxeye Daisy (crafting) White Tulip (crafting) |
|
Lime Dye | Sea Pickle (smelting) | Green Dye + White Dye[subst 2] |
Magenta Dye | Lilac (crafting) Allium (crafting) |
|
Orange Dye | Orange Tulip (crafting) | Red Dye + Yellow Dye |
Pink Dye | Peony (crafting) Pink Tulip (crafting) |
Red Dye + White Dye[subst 2] |
Secondary[edit]
Secondary dyes are created by combining primary dyes together.
Name | Source |
---|---|
Cyan Dye | + / |
Gray Dye | / + / |
Purple Dye | + / |
Color values[edit]
The "color codes" are used to determine the color imparted on sheep, wolf collars, and dyed leather armor. The hex value is shown in the extended tooltips of dyed leather armor; however, to set the color using an NBT data tag in a command, the decimal value must be used instead.
Description | Color Code | Sample | |
---|---|---|---|
Dec | Hex | ||
Black | 1908001 | #1D1D21 | |
Red | 11546150 | #B02E26 | |
Green | 6192150 | #5E7C16 | |
Brown | 8606770 | #835432 | |
Blue | 3949738 | #3C44AA | |
Purple | 8991416 | #8932B8 | |
Cyan | 1481884 | #169C9C | |
Light gray | 10329495 | #9D9D97 | |
Gray | 4673362 | #474F52 | |
Pink | 15961002 | #F38BAA | |
Lime | 8439583 | #80C71F | |
Yellow | 16701501 | #FED83D | |
Light blue | 3847130 | #3AB3DA | |
Magenta | 13061821 | #C74EBD | |
Orange | 16351261 | #F9801D | |
White | 16383998 | #F9FFFE |
Sounds[edit]
Sound | Subtitle | Source | Description | Namespaced ID | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dye stains | Blocks | Using dye on a sign[upcoming: JE 1.17] | item.dye.use | subtitles.item.dye.use | ? | ? | ? |
Achievements[edit]
Icon | Achievement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) | Gamerscore earned | Trophy type (PS) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Rainbow Collection | Gather all 16 colors of wool. | All the colors of wool do not have to be in the inventory at the same time, but must have been picked up by the player at least once. | 30G | Silver | |
![]() | Tie Dye Outfit | Use a cauldron to dye all 4 unique pieces of leather armor. | — | 15G | Bronze |
Video[edit]
History[edit]
Java Edition Beta | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 January 2011 | Notch mentions adding a "paint" feature if he can figure out how. | ||||
1.2 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||
Java Edition | |||||
1.1 | 11w49a | Sheep can now regrow their wool by eating grass. Dyed sheep regrow wool in their new color. | |||
1.3.1 | 12w19a | ![]() | |||
1.3 | ![]() | ||||
1.4.2 | 12w34a | Added the ability to dye leather armor and wolf collars. | |||
1.4.4 | 1.4.3 | Color codes has been changed. The colors of red, brown, blue, purple, cyan, pink, light blue, magenta and orange were adjusted a little vividly. | |||
1.6.1 | 13w19a | Stained clay can now be crafted using dyes. | |||
1.7.2 | 13w36a | With the addition of new flowers, many secondary and tertiary dyes are now primary dyes. | |||
13w41a | Stained glass can now be crafted using dyes. | ||||
1.8 | 14w30a | Added banners, which can be dyed. | |||
1.9 | 15w34a | Added shields, which can be dyed indirectly by applying a matching banner. | |||
1.11 | 16w39b | Dyes are now used to change the color of shulker boxes. | |||
1.12 | 17w06a | Dyes are now used to craft concrete powder. | |||
Color codes has been changed. All colors are adjusted more vividly. | |||||
17w15a | Dyes can now apply color to white beds. | ||||
1.13 | 17w47a | The different data values for the dye ID have been split up into their own IDs. | |||
1.14 | 18w43a | Ink sacs, bone meal, cocoa beans and lapis lazuli are no longer considered dyes. | |||
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||||
"Rose Red", "Dandelion Yellow" and "Cactus Green" have been renamed to "Red Dye", "Yellow Dye" and "Green Dye", respectively. | |||||
Glass panes and carpets can now be dyed. | |||||
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||||
18w44a | The color of the text on signs can now be changed with dye. | ||||
Upcoming Java Edition | |||||
1.17 | 20w45a | Candles can now be dyed. | |||
Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
v0.3.0 | ![]() | ||||
v0.3.3 | ![]() | ||||
v0.4.0 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||
![]() | |||||
v0.8.0 | build 3 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||
Rose red can now be obtained from beetroots. | |||||
v0.9.0 | build 1 | Cocoa beans can now be obtained from cocoa pods. | |||
The rose has been removed and replaced with a new poppy flower that can be crafted into rose red. | |||||
build 3 | All new flowers can now be crafted into dyes. Because of this, many secondary and tertiary dyes are now primary dyes. | ||||
Gray dye and light gray dye can now be obtained in survival. | |||||
build 11 | Stained clay can now be crafted using dyes. | ||||
v0.11.0 | build 1 | Ink sacs can now be obtained from squid. | |||
Added the ability to dye wolf collars. | |||||
v0.14.0 | ? | Cauldrons now used for leather dyeing, by applying a dye to a water-filled cauldron. | |||
? | As of v0.15.0 (possibly earlier), red mushrooms can no longer be smelted to obtain rose red. | ||||
v0.16.0 | ? | Cocoa beans can no longer be crafted. | |||
Pocket Edition | |||||
1.0.0 | alpha 0.17.0.1 | Added a Dye button for sheep. | |||
Added shulkers, which can be dyed. | |||||
Added stained glass. Stain glass cannot be crafted, but purple glass generates in end cities. | |||||
1.1.0 | alpha 1.1.0.0 | Dyes can now apply color to a white beds. | |||
Dyes are now used to craft concrete powder. | |||||
The color palette has been changed. | |||||
Bedrock Edition | |||||
1.2.0 | beta 1.2.0.2 | Dyes can now be used for banner crafting. | |||
Dyes can now be used to craft firework stars. | |||||
Stained glass is now craftable, using dyes. | |||||
1.4.0 | beta 1.2.20.1 | Lime dye can now be obtained from smelting sea pickles. | |||
Dyes can now used to craft glow sticks and balloons. | |||||
1.8.0 | beta 1.8.0.8 | Dyes can now be used to dye cat collars. | |||
beta 1.8.0.10 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||
"Rose Red", "Dandelion Yellow" and "Cactus Green" have been renamed to "Red Dye", "Yellow Dye" and "Green Dye", respectively. | |||||
1.9.0 | beta 1.9.0.0 | Blue and white dye can now be obtained from cornflowers and lily of the valleys. | |||
1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | Glass panes and carpets can now be dyed. | |||
Only a single dye is now required to apply a banner pattern in a loom. | |||||
Various dyes except black dye, white dye, brown dye and blue dye are now sold by wandering traders. | |||||
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||||
1.11.0 | beta 1.11.0.4 | Dye can now be sold to shepherd villagers. | |||
Upcoming Bedrock Edition | |||||
1.16.210 | beta 1.16.210.59 | The color of the text on signs can now be changed with dye. | |||
Legacy Console Edition | |||||
TU1 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
1.83 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||
"Rose Red", "Dandelion Yellow" and "Cactus Green" have been renamed to "Red Dye", "Yellow Dye" and "Green Dye", respectively. | |||||
1.90 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Trivia[edit]
- Players can obtain each one of every color with 1 cocoa bean, 2 yellow dye, 2 ink sac, 3 green dye, 4 lapis lazuli, 4 red dye, and 6 bone meal (2 bones).
- The dyed sheep breeding behavior mirrors Lamarck's theory, in which the organisms evolve inheriting the external changes and adaptations of the previous generation, transmitting them to their offspring.
- In Bedrock Edition, tertiary colors, along with their regular crafting recipes, can be crafted with primary colors. E.g.: Magenta can be crafted with one rose red and two bone meals.
- The colors of the dyes match the chat colors in color codes except for brown (dye only), light aqua, and gold (color codes only).
References[edit]