Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. Guides

How to make a banner in Minecraft

Tyler Lacoma
By

In Minecraft, a banner is a tall block specifically made to show off a pattern or design — the perfect accessory for decorating an inside space. You can find banners naturally spawning in Minecraft, but the results are limited and unimpressive, with few complex options beyond simple white flower banners in Woodland Mansions, or villager face banners in pillager outposts.

Fortunately, it’s possible to craft your own banner using the right kind of dyes in the right positions. Here’s how to do it!

Further reading

Recommended Videos

Step 1: Create or find a banner

Image used with permission by copyright holder

First, get yourself a banner! You can usually loot a banner by attacking one or attacking a villager holding one, then inspecting what drops. Otherwise, you can create your own banner easily with six segments of matching wool colors and a stick.

Related

Step 2: Bleach the banner if necessary

You don’t have to bleach a banner before you start, but it’s an option. This gives you a white, blank slate to start with any dyes you might want to add, and gets rid of existing patterns if you looted the banner. However, you will need bleach, which can only be created with a lab table (available with the Education Edition or direct commands), where you combine three water and three sodium hypochlorite. Then you can craft the banner with the newly created bleach to wipe it clean.

Otherwise, we suggest just starting with white wool when crafting, since that will yield the best results.

Step 3: Add dyes to the banner

Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you don’t have any dyes yet, now is the time to start gathering, buying, or crafting them. There are a total of 16 dyes you can use, so pick the colors you have in mind and get to work. Bonemeal, ink sacs, flowers, and plants are all common ingredients you can put in the crafting grid to yield various dyes.

When you have enough dye for your project, it’s time to craft it as well. The key is proper positioning: Where you put your banner and your dyes in the 3×3 crafting grid will determine the pattern that appears on your banner.

Most of the placements are largely intuitive, especially if you want to create a crest-inspired design. Popping a single dye into the corner of the crafting grid, with the banner in the middle, will yield a square shape of color in that section. A dye in the center will create a large dot. Surrounding the banner with dyes will create a border of that color. You can make a gradient by positioning dyes in the upper right and left corners and the bottom two middle sections of the grid. Crosses and X’s are likewise made by positioning dyes in the proper patterns. A triangle of dyes can create chevrons at the top or bottom of the banner, or diagonally divide the banner with color depending on placement — and so on.

Special designs

You can also create special banner designs by adding in additional items along with a dye color for more complex results. These options include:

  • Brick: Adding a brick will create a brick pattern. Add a single dye and a brick to create a colored brick pattern.
  • Vine: Crafting a vine, a dye, and your banner will create a wavy border in the color of your preference.
  • Creeper head: This gives you a Creeper-like face on the banner, in the color of your choice.
  • Wither skeleton skull: Use this to create a skull and crossbones design.
  • Oxeye daisy: This provide a vague flower shape.
  • Enchanted gold apple: Use this to get the Mojang logo.

Remember, you can craft dyes on a banner multiple times! This allows you to complement and overlay designs to get just the look that you want. If you want to experiment first so you don’t waste any materials, Minecraft has a tool for that very thing. People have created everything from real-world national flags to the crests of the Houses in Game of Thrones, so you can find plenty of good advice for more complex plans.

If you have access to a loom, you can create even more banner patterns with a wider variety of logos, but this is not necessary to get the look your want.

Step 4: Place your banner

Image used with permission by copyright holder

With your dyes and design crafted, you are ready to place your banner in the desired location. Banners have no collision mechanics and are placed either on the ground (like a sign) or on a wall. Lava cannot hurt them, and objects move right through them if necessary, including running water.

Step 5: Arrange multiple banners if necessary

Sometimes one banner isn’t enough to get the exact look you want, especially if you want to spell something out or create a large billboard. For this, you will need to create and place multiple banners in the same position, using their color patterns to form a larger design.

If you want to create a banner with the same colors, simply put a blank banner and your dyed banner into the crafting grid. This allows you to copy the design without needing to gather all the materials again.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Tyler Lacoma
Tyler Lacoma
Former Digital Trends Contributor
If it can be streamed, voice-activated, made better with an app, or beaten by mashing buttons, Tyler's into it. When he's not…
How to get Obsidian in Lego Fortnite
Lego characters mining a boulder.

Obsidian is almost as rare a resource in Lego Fortnite as it is in real life. This black, razor-sharp material can only be found in the most dangerous environments. That means knowing where to find it is only part of the trouble. The real test will be in preparing yourself to survive the trip. You'll also need the tools necessary to collect it. If you're ready to face the heat, here's how to get Obsidian in Lego Fortnite.
Where to find Obsidian

Obsidian is an ore, so if your first instinct was to look for Obsidian inside of caves, then you're on the right track. Unlike something like Marble, however, Obsidian isn't as common or in as easy to reach places. Obsidian will be found deep into caves near lava, but only caves found in a desert biome will have lava inside.

Read more
How to fix packet burst in Modern Warfare 3
A soldier shields themself from an underwater explosion.

The last thing anyone wants to see when booting up a game like Modern Warfare 3 to head online with your friends is to be stopped by an error. Online games are susceptible to all types of problems beyond the player's control, leading to plenty of frustration and disappointment in a possibly ruined experience. While there are more substantial issues that can completely prevent you from playing, seeing the packet burst issue is almost worse because, while it does let you play, you will experience a ton of lag that makes the game essentially unplayable. If you've been struck by a packet burst error in Modern Warfare 3, here are some possible solutions so you can get back to fragging.
How to fix packet burst errors

If you spot a symbol of three squares on the left of your screen while playing Modern Warfare 3, it means you're suffering from a packet burst. This is essentially an error where something is messed up in the communication between your system and the game's servers, resulting in terrible performance. While it could be simply an issue on the server side and not related to you at all, which you can check by looking at the Modern Warfare 3 server status here, there are a few things you can do to potentially fix the issue on your end.

Read more
All stash locations in Alan Wake 2 and how to open them
Alan drenched in green light in Alan Wake 2.

FBI agent Saga Anderson and her partner, Alex Casey, are called into Bright Falls to investigate a murder committed by a strange group calling themselves the Cult of the Trees. These dangerous cultists are your main enemy in Alan Wake 2, and they put up quite a fight despite mostly using basic tools as weapons. They seem mindless and primitive, but the fact that they have a series of Cultist Stashes hidden all around the world suggests otherwise. These treasure troves are very well hidden, and they're protected with a small puzzle to try and prevent those who may stumble upon one from grabbing all the goodies inside. You'll find yourself short on supplies essentially all the time in Alan Wake 2, so scooping up some extra ammo and batteries is always welcome. Here is where you can find all the Cultist Stashes in Alan Wake 2 and how to open them.
All Cultist Stash locations
There are a total of 21 Cultist Stashes to find and unlock in Alan Wake 2. Each zone has its own set to find, and they all have different puzzles you need to solve to open them. None are missable, but some can't be obtained until you make story progress or get specific tools.
Bright Falls Cult Stashes

The first Cult Stash you can find comes as soon as you reach the town of Bright Falls for the first time. Instead of going straight to your destination down the block, turn around and head toward the dead end. Behind the truck will be a big locked box. To open this one, all you need to do is play a little game of Simon Says. The keypad will flash three buttons in a sequence that you simply need to repeat to open the box and grab the loot.

Read more