Dyes

Dye
Type:	Item
Found naturally:	Depends on Dye
Renewable:	Depends on Dye
Identifier:	See Data Values

Dyes are items used to change the color of other items or entities.

Obtaining

Crafting

Red dye is crafted using the red flower.

Yellow dye is crafted using the yellow flower.

Bone meal can be crafted using Bone.

Combining Dyes

Dyes can be crafted using other dyes.

First color	Second color	Result color
Yellow	Red	Orange
Blue	Red	Purple
Green	Blue	Cyan
White	Red	Pink
Pink	Purple	Magenta
Blue	White	Light blue
Green	White	Light green
Black	White	Gray
Gray	White	Light gray

Smelting

Green dye is made by smelting cactus in a furnace.

Mob Loot

Ink sacs are used as black dye. They are obtained from fishing or by killing squids.

Chest Loot

Cocoa beans are used as brown dye. They appears in 21.8% of loot chests, in stacks of 1-6.

Mining

Lapis lazuli is used as blue dye. It is obtained by mining lapis lazuli ore.

Usage

Dying Sheep

Right clicking or shift+left clicking on a sheep while holding a dye uses up the dye and changes the color of the sheep's wool, and so it drops colored wool when sheared.

Dying Dog Collars

Right clicking on a dog while holding a dye uses up the dye and changes the color of the dog's collar.

Crafting Ingredient

Unlike other dyes, cocoa beans cannot dye leather armor or be used to craft party hats. Lapis lazuli and bone meal are able to dye armor, but are also unable to be used to craft party hats.

The party hat is crafted using three different dyes.

Dyes are used to dye wool, glass, leather armor, beds, and balloons.

Usually, if you put an item that has already been dyed together with a new dye, it takes the color of the new dye. However, wool works slightly differently, and the colors will blend together in the way that crafting dyes work (eg. red wool and lapis lazuli craft purple wool). The only exception to this rule is white wool, which always directly takes the color of the dye.

Other Uses

Cocoa beans, lapis lazuli, bone meal and ink sacs, which can be used as brown, blue, white and black dyes respectively, can be used for other things. See the individual pages for more information.

Data Values

ID

There are four other items which use separate identifiers which are also used as dyes. The identifier for all other dyes is dye.

Identifier	Preview
cocoa_bean
lapis_lazuli
ink_sac
bone_meal

Data Tags

Dyes have a type data tag, which determines the color. The default type if no type is specified is gray. Although white, black, blue, and brown dyes can be obtained, they are not fully functional as bone meal, ink sacs, lapis lazuli, and cocoa beans are used instead.

Type	Preview
red
green
blue
brown
cyan
lightblue
lightgreen
magenta
orange
pink
purple
white
yellow
lightgray
gray
black

History

Version	Date	Changes
1.18.3	Nov 04, 2011	Added 3 dyes Yellow Red Orange
1.19.4_6	Unknown release date	Added lapis lazuli, used as blue dye
1.21	May 17, 2012	Added bone meal, used as white dye
1.22	Jun 29, 2012	Added cocoa beans, used as brown dye Added six dyes Light blue Light green Pink Magenta Purple Cyan
1.23	Oct 31, 2012	Fixed white cloth and red dye making pink cloth
1.27	Nov 13, 2015	Dyes now used to craft the party hat
1.28	Oct 08, 2016	Ink sac, used as black dye Gray dye Light gray dye Dyes can be used to change the color of dog collars All dyes are now one item with different type tags Dyes can be used on leather armor.
1.29	Sep 27, 2019	The dye now has a default type when given through commands (gray) The dye can be used to dye the bed Using dye on leather armor no longer repairs it

Bugs

• 1.29.2: Cocoa beans cannot be used to dye armor, but brown dye can. TheTopazRobot (talk) 12:24, 6 January 2020 (UTC)
• 1.29.2: Cocoa beans also cannot be used to craft party hats, along with lapis lazuli, bone meal, and ink sacs, but the unobtainable dyes can. TheTopazRobot (talk) 12:24, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

Trivia

• There are four unobtainable dyes, brown, blue, black, and white which can be given using commands. They are not properly obtainable because cocoa beans, lapis lazuli, ink sacs, and bone meal are used instead to get their respective colors. These dyes are not totally functional, however they can be used to dye sheep, and to craft the party hat.

See Also

• Lapis lazuli
• Ink sac
• Bone meal
• Cocoa bean