Need to know how to make some green dye in Minecraft? If there’s one thing Minecraft needs more of, it’s the colour green. Oh, wait… We jest, but you can use green or lime green dye to brighten up your underground, Nether, or End Minecraft builds. On top of that, green blocks are great for texturising the outside of your Minecraft house, or even changing the colour of your pets’ collars. But it doesn’t work in quite the same way as the majority of other dyes.
Making a Minecraft dye usually works by simply placing an item into a Crafting Table slot… but green and lime green dye play by different rules.. In the case of these two colours, you need to put the right items in a furnace and smelt them into dyes. Keep reading to discover which items you need to make green dye in Minecraft, and fill your world with even more emerald-coloured items.
How to get green dye in Minecraft
In order to make green dye in Minecraft, you first need to gather Cactus from a desert biome. Don’t get too close, as Cactus deals damage if you touch it, but you can easily break it by hitting the bottom block and watch the stack drop. Cactus can then be farmed by placing it on sand with empty space above it.
With your cactus ready, simply craft a furnace with eight Cobblestone, Blackstone or Cobbled Deepslate. Place your Cactus blocks into the furnace with any fuel source, though Coal, Lava and Kelp Blocks are among the most efficient, and each Cactus block returns one Green Dye.
How to make lime green dye in Minecraft
To make lime green dye in Minecraft, head on an ocean adventure. Smelting is required, just like normal green dye, but Sea Pickles are the ingredient you need this time. Sea Pickles can be found in groups of one to four in the warm ocean biome, on top of Coral blocks. You may also find one in a decorative Desert Village flower pot and, as they can be farmed, you only need one to get started. To get more Sea Pickles, simply place one underwater and use bonemeal on it.
Once you have your Sea Pickles, place them in a furnace with any fuel source. One Sea Pickle will produce one Lime Green dye.
Uses for green dye in Minecraft
- Dyeing blocks: Wool, Terracotta and Concrete can all be placed in a Crafting Table with one dye to change their colour. With Wool, only one item is dyed at a time, but you can dye eight Terracotta with just one dye. To colour Concrete Powder, you must use the appropriate dye in the initial crafting process, as its colour cannot be changed later.
- Making candles: Minecraft Candles were introduced to the game with the Caves and Cliffs update in 2021. After making a candle with one Honeycomb and one String, place the undyed candle back into a crafting grid with one coloured dye to change its appearance.
- Dyeing mobs: You can even use coloured dye to change colours or details on some mobs in Minecraft. To change the wool colour of a sheep, simply use a piece of dye on it and get working on that rainbow wool farm. Alternatively, you can change the colour of your tamed wolf or cat’s collar. Again, just right click on the animal with the green dye in your main hand. In all cases, the dye is consumed.
- Stained glass: Like blocks, you can also dye glass any colour. Place either eight Glass Blocks or Glass Panes in a crafting table around one dye, and you can use it to create patterned glass windows, or even use it to mimic smoke, magic, or other cool effects.
- Dyeing armour: Use green or other dyes to change the colour of leather armour. Even if you’re not wearing it, placing coloured armour on armour stands around your build is a great decorating idea. To dye armour in Java Edition, simply put the clothing item in a Crafting Table with one piece of dye. A full set of armour requires four dye. It’s a bit more fun in Bedrock Edition, however. Dye a cauldron full of water by using the dye item on it, then right click on the cauldron again with the leather armour or horse armour in your main hand. One full cauldron can dye three items.
- Make fireworks: For one of the more exhilarating things you can do with coloured dyes in Minecraft, why not send some brightly-coloured explosions into the air? While plain fireworks can be used for sailing across the sky with your Elytra, you can actually use fireworks for their real life purpose, as well. Add a coloured Firework Star to your Firework crafting recipe, and shoot them into the air at night for a spectacular display.
- Banner patterns: If you want to add a bit of flair to your build, show off your personality, or intimidate enemies, you might want to make some custom Minecraft banners. Using dyes in banner creations can lead to an infinite number of design possibilities.
- Dyeing Shulker Boxes: Finally, one of the most important but underrated parts of your Minecraft survival story… organisation. We know, boring. You want to just chuck everything into the nearest chest when you get home and head back out into the world. But organised storage is a huge time saver and a way to make it more interesting is by colour-coding your boxes. By the time you reach The End, where you can gather Shulker Boxes, there are no doubt countless items at your base. So, pop your Shulker Box in a crafting grid with one dye, and sort your stuff into a colour-coordinated dream.
Now you know the steps to make green dye in Minecraft and how to use it in your world, why not start a brand-new build in one of the best Minecraft seeds? And if you’re a big fan of the colour, find out how to ensnare some green mobs, like Minecraft frogs or even slime, and really go all in on the theme,