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How to Craft Black Dye in Minecraft

Black Dye in Minecraft, drawn from the game's own item texture. Dyeing wool, leather armor, glass, concrete, terracotta and more. The recipe first appears in the game's files in Minecraft 1.14.

A Black Dye comes from 1 Ink sac or wither rose, worked on a Crafting Table. The grid returns 1 Black Dye.

Black Dye Item ID and Give Command

The item ID for Black Dye is minecraft:black_dye. In commands the namespace may be left off, so black_dye works too. Checked against Minecraft Java 26.2.

Give yourself one
/give @p black_dye
Give a full stack of 64
/give @p black_dye 64
Give it to a named player
/give Steve black_dye 1

Cheats have to be on for Black Dye to appear this way, and the same command works on Bedrock Edition, where the name is written the same.

Overview

Black Dye is used to color a wide variety of blocks and items. Black Dye uses a shapeless recipe, so the ingredients can go in any cells of the grid as long as all of them are present.

This recipe first appears in the game's own data files in Minecraft 1.14, and not in the release before it.

The materials come together from a few sources: you will be working with ink sac or wither rose (ink sac or wither rose).

What It Costs Each

Divide the grid by what leaves it and one black dye costs 1 ink sac or wither rose.

Materials Needed

ItemAmountWhere to Find
Ink sac or wither roseInk sac or wither roseInk sac or wither rose1xInk sac or wither rose

For Black Dye: Ink sac or wither rose (ink sac or wither rose), brought to a Crafting Table.

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. 1

    Ink sac or wither roseInk sac or wither roseInk sac or wither rose

  2. 2

    Black Dye

Minecraft crafting recipe for Black Dye: 1 x Ink sac or wither rose in a crafting table, making 1 Black Dye.

Tips & Notes

  • Cell positions do not matter here: drop Ink sac or wither rose anywhere in the grid and Black Dye appears.
  • Shopping list: 1x Ink sac or wither rose. Plan the Ink sac or wither rose first: ink sac or wither rose.

Uses for Black Dye

  • Dyeing wool, leather armor, glass, concrete, terracotta and more

What Black Dye Goes Into

4 other recipes list Black Dye as an ingredient.

Black Concrete PowderCrafting TableBlack Stained GlassCrafting TableDark PrismarineCrafting TableGray DyeGray DyeGray DyeCrafting Table

View detailed item stats, durability and properties for Black Dye on the Astroworld Items Database.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I need to craft a Black Dye in Minecraft?
To craft a Black Dye you need 1 Ink sac or wither rose at a Crafting Table. Place it in the grid in any arrangement, and one craft produces one Black Dye.
What can you make with Black Dye?
Black Dye is an ingredient in 4 other recipes on this site, including Black Concrete Powder, Black Stained Glass, Dark Prismarine and Gray Dye. The section above links to each of them.
Where do you find the materials for a Black Dye?
The materials for a Black Dye each come from somewhere different. Ink sac or wither rose: ink sac or wither rose.
How many Black Dyes do you get from one craft?
The Black Dye recipe makes one Black Dye per craft.
Can you farm everything you need for a Black Dye?
Black Dye needs nothing you have to go find: ink sac or wither rose from squid. Set those up once and you can keep making black dye.
What is the item ID for Black Dye in Minecraft?
Black Dye is registered as minecraft:black_dye. Commands accept the short form black_dye as well, and Bedrock spells it the same. Checked against Java 26.2.
What is the give command for Black Dye?
The command for Black Dye is /give @p black_dye. Add a number for more than one, so /give @p black_dye 64 hands you a full stack, and it only runs with cheats enabled.
Is the Black Dye recipe the same in Java and Bedrock Edition?
Yes, the Black Dye recipe is the same in both editions. Java and Bedrock both build a Black Dye from 1 Ink sac or wither rose at a Crafting Table, in the same layout, one at a time.
Does it matter where you put the ingredients for a Black Dye?
No, a Black Dye is a shapeless recipe, so 1 Ink sac or wither rose can go in any slots you like. Only the set of ingredients is checked, not their arrangement.
What version of Minecraft added the Black Dye?
Minecraft 1.14 is where the black dye starts. The recipe sits in that release and is missing from the one before, across every Java version Mojang still hands out. Today the game builds it from 1 Ink sac or wither rose, as shown above.

Sources

Grid, ingredients and yield
1 Ink sac or wither rose in, 1 Black Dye out, Crafting Table. Java 26.2, .
That Bedrock agrees
Bedrock 1.26.40.05, same ingredient.
How far back it goes
Java 1.14 is the first release that knows this recipe at all. From all 163 released Java clients, rd-132211 to 26.2.
That the ingredients come back
What drops, what villagers trade and what farms regrow in Minecraft Java, followed through the recipes to see what those ingredients can be turned into.
Stack size
The Astroworld Items Database, built from the same jar.
The recipe book unlock
What unlocks it in the recipe book. Java 26.2.
The cost per item
Counted, not played: 1 Black Dye per craft.

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