Every Dye Color In Minecraft And How To Get It

Mojang Studios has added 16 dyes to Minecraft so far, serving as a helpful tool to enliven a home or accessories. The game is known for creating an experience that can fit anyone’s genre. From crafting, farming and building, to deep-diving into dangerous caverns while fighting off mobs, there is a little something for everyone. Thankfully, players don’t have to deal with the basic looks of some items. Several things in Minecraft can be recolored to fit every aesthetic. From dyeing armor, beds, animal collars, and even glass, fans have more than enough options to choose from.

With 16 dyes, though, it can be hard to figure out how to get each one. While some colors can be easily found, there are some that require crafting from various ingredients. Thankfully, this is a full list for every dye available in Minecraft, and just how and where to get them.

Players who want to farm dyes in Minecraft can make the specific dyed wool and place it on a freshly sheered sheep. Through this method, they can either breed the same colors or go for a combination. Additionally, if they have an Emerald farm and a Wandering Trader on hand, they can trade for all the dyes currently available.

Updated on February 6, 2025, by Amjad A. Asma: Mojang recently added the Pale Garden biome to Minecraft. The new flowers found there, Eyeblossoms, allow players to make gray or orange dye — the resultant color depends on when the flowers are plucked. Dyes in Minecraft are incredibly helpful when players want to express their creativity. The sandbox title offers fans endless possibilities when it comes to creating projects, and the 16 colors available can help immensely with that. The multiple hues present can be added to banners, beds, candles, and balloons, they can also be used to craft firework stars, and much more. Considering that there are various other blocks with their own distinct colors, like Prismarine for example, a project’s aesthetics are only limited by a player’s imagination.

Fortunately, Mojang has added multiple ways through which players can craft the dyes in Minecraft. Barring the two mentioned above, rearing sheep and trading with the Wandering Trader, fans can use flowers, primary color dyes, and even resources like Lapis Lazuli to craft the dyes currently available in the game.

White Dye

Primary Color That Can be Crafted Easily Crafted

White dye is an easy color to collect and is important for crafting certain other dyes as well. So, having an abundance on hand could save time later. Since it is one of the most frequently available colors, there are multiple ways to obtain it. The first way that players can craft white dye in Minecraft is by finding the Lily of the Valley flower and putting it through the Crafting Table. The second route, which can be a little more dangerous, involves killing skeletons. Once they drop bones, players can use the Crafting Table to essentially crush the bone to make Bonemeal, which can then be turned into white dye. Bonemeal is also collected once composters are full, which can be done by throwing seeds, vegetables, and fruits in there.

After recent Minecraft updates, players can now find white dyes as common loot in Trail Ruins’ Suspicious Gravel. The last way to obtain this particular color is through the Wandering Trader in exchange for Emeralds. Considering these latter two routes can be time-consuming, players should instead resort to Bonemeal farming to make an efficient hoard.

Black Dye

Can Be A Little Dangerous or Tedious to Craft

Currently, players have only two ways to craft the Black dye in Minecraft. The first route is quite simple and involves killing Squids for their Ink Sacs. These can then be put into the Crafting Table to obtain the Black dye. So, players who want to deck their builds in dark hues should come prepared to dive in the water and kill a few of these passive mobs. They can drop between one-to-three Ink Sacs at a time, so there is a chance that players can farm this dye easily. It should be noted here that the mob’s other variant, Glow Squids, will drop Glow Ink Sacs that cannot be made into dyes.

The second route to obtain the Black dye in Minecraft is by putting Wither Roses into the Crafting Table. What makes this method dangerous is that players need to take down Wither Skeletons in the Nether. This is easily said than done, however, and needs much more time, effort, preparation, and skill.

Brown Dye

Ingredient’s Exclusivity to One Biome Makes Crafting Tedious

Brown dye is made from Cocoa Beans, which can be a task to find in itself due to it only growing on jungle trees. The Jungle biomes are somewhat rare in Minecraft, but are usually big when found. As such, players have a chance at gathering a lot of Cocoa Beans when there. Plus, they can be placed on the side of jungle wood to regrow.

Once they have spent several days wandering around the map to find this biome or have simply resorted to a resource site like ChunkBase, they can gather enough Cocoa Beans and use the Crafting Table to make Brown dye in Minecraft.

Red Dye

Oft-Used Dye That is Very Easy to Craft and Farm

There are four items that can form red dye, and they are fairly common. The first is a Poppy flower, the second is a Red Tulip, the third is a Beetroot, and the fourth is a Rose Bush. The flowers can be commonly found when wandering around the map, but are more concentrated in flowering biomes like Plains.

Players can also use Bonemeal on a grass block to grow a variety of flowers. Beetroots are commonly found in villages, either in their farms, in their chests, or even being sold by farmers. After obtaining any of the four items, players can easily craft the Red dye in Minecraft.

Green Dye

Beautiful Dye, But Components are Region-Exclusive

The green dye is the first dye that needs a furnace to obtain, but the ingredient needed is still quite simple to gather. Players must find a desert biome first and then gather Cactus. Once this is done, all they need to do is burn the Cactus blocks in the furnace and collect the Green dye.

If players love exploration and visit every villager house they see, they may even find some Green dye in chests in desert villager houses. This is completely dependent on chance, so it’s naturally not dependable method.

Blue Dye

A Dye That Offers a Tricky Collection Method

There are currently three ways through which players can get Blue dye, and only one is a pretty easy and recommended. This method involves gathering several cornflowers found in the Flower Forest biome and putting it through the Crafting Table. If they are just out and about in the Trail Ruins, they also have a chance to find some of this dye as common loot in Suspicious Gravel.

The final method to obtain the Blue dye is collecting Lapis Lazuli in Minecraft and putting it into the Crafting Table. Players should ideally avoid this route as not only is it tricky, tedious, and dangerous to collect the material, but it’s also best used in enchanting important gear.

Yellow Dye

Wonderful Dye With Multiple Options to Obtain It

The Yellow dye is another color that can be crafted with flowers! Thankfully, the Flower Forest biome is a savior for those who want to pick all the flowers they can get. For this dye, players will need to find either Sunflowers or Dandelions.

Like certain other variants, gamers can find Yellow dye in Trail Ruins’ Suspicious Gravel. Moreover, they can even find it in Mason’s Chests’ in villages.

Gray Dye

Simple Dye With Multiple Ways To Craft

Now that all the primary colors are out of the way, it’s time to dive into those that require mixing. Of course, certain hues can be guessed if players know their art, but some can still be tricky. Gray, however, is simple.

Gray is made by combining Black and White dyes, if available. If not, players can also make this particular hue by combining one Bonemeal and one Ink Sac with a Crafting Table. Gray dye can also be crafted from closed Eyeblossoms. These flowers generate in Minecraft‘s new Pale Garden biome, and they have a special feature: they close during the day and open at nighttime. When players harvest this closed flower in the day, they can use it to craft the gray dye. Farming closed Eyeblossoms is the most effective route to collect large amounts of this color.

Light Gray Dye

Easy to Craft and Useful For Urban Aesthetic

If Gray wasn’t too tedious for players, then the Light Gray might be. There are two ways players can go about crafting this dye. The first is getting the Gray dye and adding more Bonemeal to it, or even using more White dye or Bonemeal than Black dye or Ink Sac the first time around.

The second technique is by placing one White Tulip, Oxeye Daisy or Azure Bluet into the Crafting Table by itself.

Orange Dye

A Vibrant Dye That Can Enliven Any Space

The Orange dye is self-explanatory and players will need to combine both a Red and a Yellow dye together to create it. If the Flower Forest biome is close by, they can just gather Orange Tulips or Torchflowers for the Crafting Table. They can also find some Orange dye in Trail Ruins.

When players travel across the Pale Garden biome at night, they can collect open Eyeblossoms to craft Orange dyes in Minecraft. It’s important to note that these flowers open only at night, presenting a vivid orange color that helps players spot them. While the open flowers are particularly bright, they do not give off a light level. Players should also exercise caution when harvesting open Eyeblossoms as the biome hosts the Creaking and other mobs, and is thus not safe.

Lime Dye

Perfect for Sci-Fi, Aliens-Inspired Projects

Players can create the Lime dye in Minecraft rather easily. There are two ways to go about it: one involves the Crafting Table and one, the Furnace.

For the former, all they need to do is mix some Green dye with White dye or Bonemeal. For the latter process, they need to burn up some Sea Pickle. While Mojang may add more routes to get this particular hue in future updates, these are the only two routes currently available.

Light Blue Dye

Easily Crafted and Great Option to Go For

The Light Blue dye is relatively simple to create. That is, if players are close to the Flower Forest biome and can harvest a decent chunk of Blue Orchids. This is a much easier way to farm this particular color than opting for the second method.

If players do not have access to Blue Orchids, they can make Light Blue dye by mixing Blue with White or with Bonemeal or Lapis Lazuli with either of those. They can also get this color via Suspicious Gravel in Trail Ruins, although the chances are quite low.

Cyan Dye

A Striking Color For Monochromatic or Ocean-Themed Builds

Cyan is another dye that is only created when combining two colors, as nothing in the Minecraft world has something that can be made into it. Since it is somewhat unique, it can work great as a decorative color for builds that have various conflicting hues and textures.

The beautiful color can be created by adding Lapis Lazuli or Blue dye to Green dye. Alternatively, players can also craft it via the Pitcher Plant.

Pink Dye

A Vibrant Color Useful For Fantasy Projects

Pink is another dye combination in Minecraft that can be created by mixing Red and White dye together in the Crafting Table. This color looks particularly vivid in the sandbox title’s world aesthetic and makes for a striking decorative option to go for. If players are familiar with the Minecraft glitch that turned the world into Barbie Land, they can use this dye to recreate the color palette.

If players don’t have some of the parent dyes on hand or a sheep to breed more, they can forage for Peonies, Pink Tulips, or Pink Petals in the Flower Forest biome to craft Pink dye.

Purple Dye

Rich Color That Can be Used For The End-Themed Builds

Like most of the secondary colors, the Purple dye can be obtained by combining two previously crafted variants. All they need to do is place Red and Blue (or Lapis Lazuli) in the Crafting Table to craft this item.

However, since this isn’t a cost-effective method per se, it’s advised that players farm the Purple dye via sheep rearing instead.

Magenta Dye

Tedious-To-Craft Dye, But Wonderful Aesthetic

And lastly, as the final hue, the Magenta dye can be as complicated to craft in Minecraft as in real life. There are a couple options when it comes to crafting this dye from scratch: use Lilac or Allium flowers via the Crafting Table.

The remaining methods involve mixing other dyes, Purple and Pink or Red, Blue, and Pink. Alternatively, players can also mix the ingredients of those dyes, i.e., Lapis Lazuli, Red dye, and Bonemeal, etc.