Dye Crafting Production Chain
Wool dyes are items used to change the color of wool. They were added in the beta 1.2 update. There are currently seven "primary" dyes (red, yellow, blue, green, white, black and brown), seven "secondary" dyes, and two "tertiary" dyes.
Uses
Dyes can be placed with wool on a crafting table (in any position) to dye a single block. It can also be used on sheep to paint them. After shearing, the wool dropped will be of the painted color as well, sometimes yielding more colored wool than from crafting (see Notes section). After shearing colored sheep, they will not regrow their wool. Additionally, there are naturally occurring gray, light gray and black sheep that drop corresponding color wool as well.
Primary Colours
These primary dyes (with the exception of cocoa beans) are created from a single ingredient found in nature somewhere.
| Name | Source | Color | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rose Red | Rose | Red | Made by placing a rose on a crafting table | ruby Red | redstone | Red | Made by placing redstone on a crafting table |
| Dandelion Yellow | Dandelion | Yellow | Made by placing a dandelion on a crafting table | ||||
| Lapis Lazuli | Lapis Lazuli Ore | Blue | One lapis lazuli ore gives 4-8 lapis lazuli | ||||
| Cactus Green | Cactus | Green | Cook the cactus in a furnace to get the dye | ||||
| Ink Sac | Dropped by Squid | Black | Black wool is also obtained from Black Sheep | ||||
| Bone Meal | Bone | White | Bones are dropped by Skeletons | ||||
| Cocoa Beans | Unknown | Brown | Can only be obtained through inventory hacking or Mods |
Secondary Colours
Secondary dyes are created by combining primary dyes together.
| Name | Source | Color | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orange Dye | Rose Red + Dandelion Yellow | Orange | |
| Cyan Dye | Cactus Green + Lapis Lazuli | Cyan | |
| Purple Dye | Rose Red + Lapis Lazuli | Purple | |
| Gray Dye | Bone Meal + Ink Sac | Gray | Gray wool is also obtained from Gray Sheep |
| Light Blue Dye | Bone Meal + Lapis Lazuli | Light Blue | |
| Pink Dye | Bone Meal + Rose Red | Pink | |
| Lime Dye | Cactus Green + Bone Meal | Aqua Green |
Tertiary Colours
Tertiary dyes are created by combining least one secondary dye. Magenta and light gray are currently the only tertiary dyes available.
| Name | Source | Color | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magenta Dye | Purple Dye + Pink Dye | Magenta | An alternate crafting recipe is Rose Red x2 + Bone Meal + Lapis Lazuli. (As in, the constituents of Purple and Pink Dyes.) |
| Light Gray Dye | Bone Meal + Gray Dye | Light Gray | An alternate crafting recipe is Bone Meal x2 + Ink Sac. Light Gray wool can also obtained from Light Gray Sheep. |
Notes
Mixing one Ink Sac with two Bone Meal will give you three Light Gray Dye, but this method uses more Ink Sacs.
If you are looking to make Wool dyed a certain color, it is better to dye a sheep the desired color and get the colored wool directly from the sheep. This method gives you the sheep's drop of 1-3 colored wool blocks per dye, instead of only one dyed block from using crafting wool with dye. Example shown here.
These colors of wool naturally occur on sheep; all others must be created by using dye on a sheep (right-click):
- White sheep (the most common)
- Light gray sheep
- Dark gray sheep
- Black sheep
Data Values
The color of a dye item depends on a secondary data field (beyond the item ID of 254), which is also used to store the damage for tools and so is commonly referred to as a “damage value”.
| Dye | Hexadecimal | Decimal |
|---|---|---|
| Bone Meal | 0x0 | 0 |
| Orange Dye | 0x1 | 1 |
| Magenta Dye | 0x2 | 2 |
| Light Blue Dye | 0x3 | 3 |
| Dandelion Yellow | 0x4 | 4 |
| Lime Dye | 0x5 | 5 |
| Pink Dye | 0x6 | 6 |
| Gray Dye | 0x7 | 7 |
| Light Gray Dye | 0x8 | 8 |
| Cyan Dye | 0x9 | 9 |
| Purple Dye | 0xA | 10 |
| Lapis Lazuli | 0xB | 11 |
| Cocoa Beans | 0xC | 12 |
| Cactus Green | 0xD | 13 |
| Rose Red | 0xE | 14 |
| Ink Sac | 0xF | 15 |