Minecraft has no shortage of lighting methods, but the new candles added to the game are the most varied of all the options currently available.
Added with the 1.17 Caves and Cliffs update, the long-awaited addition of candles has finally made its way into the game with 17 unique colors and four possible arrangements. In this guide, we will show you how to make, dye and especially how to light a candle.
How to make and use candles in Minecraft
Minecraft: how to make a candle
Candles in Minecraft are quite cheap to craft, requiring only two items. You will only need one piece of string, plus a honeycomb. Place the string on the honeycomb in a crafting table or in your inventory to create a candle. This candle will be a mixture of white and yellow color by default.
Obtaining the necessary elements to make a candle is quite simple.
String can be reached by killing spiders, which will drop between zero and five string, or by killing cats, which will drop from zero to two. It can also be traded for, looted from chests that spawn naturally in dungeons, mineshafts, or temples, and it can also be fished.
Honeycombs, on the other hand, are obtained by mowing honeycombs. Much like honeycomb is used to wax copper blocks, it acts like candle wax during crafting.
Minecraft: How to change the color of the candles
If you want a different color than that ugly yellowish white for your candle, you can change it by tinting it. This is done the same way you would change the colors of a firework, by combining one of 16 dye colors with the candle in a crafting table or in your inventory.
Dyes are obtained largely from flowers, which can be placed in your inventory to obtain a dye of that respective color. You can also melt cacti or sea pickles in ovens to get a green and lime green dye.
Minecraft: How to use a candle
Now that you know how to make one, now you need to know how to light a candle. It's quite simple. Place a candle, then use flint and steel to light it. This will stay on all the time unless it is manually turned off or comes into contact with water. A single candle will emit light level three, which isn't enough to prevent monsters from spawning, as most spawn between light levels four and seven.
Similar to sea pickles, multiple candles can be placed on a single block, up to a maximum of four. How their arrangement looks depends on the number of candles on the block, as does their light level.
Each additional candle increases the light level of the block by three, up to a maximum of 12. For comparison, regular torches have light levels of 14. Extinguishing a candle is as easy as interact with it, and the destruction of a candle can be performed with any tool. or with bare hands, a bit like a torch.
Minecraft: How to make a birthday cake
There's another cool thing you can do with these new candles. Drop a cake, then interact with it while holding a candle to place it in the cake. Lighting it is done in exactly the same way as a regular candle and can be done to create a birthday cake.
Although it serves no purpose other than decoration and can only hold one candle, it's still a really neat centerpiece for your dining room. If the cake is eaten or destroyed, the candle will fall.
Now that you know how to craft and how to light a candle in Minecraft, you can spice up your home right away with this brand new piece of design. Torches are still the go-to item for lighting caves and the outdoors, as they are cheaper, but candles are clearly better for indoor decorating.
If you found this guide helpful, consider taking a look at our other Minecraft guides here on GameSkinny.
