How to make and use candles in Minecraft 1.19

Aside from being one of the most popular games out there, Minecraft also serves as a creative outlet for many people. There are those who use creative mode to build with unlimited resources and those who strive to create massive builds only using what they can legitimately acquire in survival mode. Both players have a similar goal: To make the best builds they can.

Part of making the best builds possible is making sure they are adequately detailed. Candles offer an amazing way to add detail, with the added benefit of lighting up a build to ensure it is safe from mobs spawning within it. These factors make it a wonderful item for builders to use, and for beginners looking to make some, here's how.

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Everything Minecraft 1.19 players might need to know about candles

How to make candles

The recipe for crafting candles (Image via Minecraft)

Candles can be crafted by the player or found in the world. Crafting them is a relatively simple process and requires few resources. Players need one string and one honeycomb, arranged with the string directly above the honeycomb.

Players can sometimes find string as naturally generated loot in several of the game's structures, such as dungeons, bastions, desert temples, pillager outposts, and woodland mansions. Players can also get string through fishing, by breaking naturally generated strings or tripwires, or by killing spiders, striders, or cats.

Players can get honeycomb only through bees. When a beehive or bee nest is at honey level five and honey is visibly oozing out of it, players can shear it. This will result in three honeycombs being gained but will anger the bees inside in the process. Dispensers with shears can also harvest the nest and will do so without angering the bees inside.

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How to use candles

A candle being lit by a nearby fire (Image via Minecraft)

Candles can be placed on a block. When a player does so, the candle will be placed near the center of the block. Players can then add up to three additional candles on the same block. The candles will be of differing heights and rearranged depending on how many candles there are.

When a player places a candle or candles, they will not be lit. They can be lit by using flint and steel on them or by using a fire charge, flaming projectile, or even a fire aspect sword, book, or flaming mob on Bedrock Edition. They can be extinguished by either interacting with the candle or by using water.

Players can mine a candle with any tool, or without a tool. This means that they are quick and easy to transport, should players want to change their placement. They have a hardness value of 0.1, which results in a breaking time of 0.15 seconds.

A bunch of candles will produce light depending on how many candles there are. One candle will produce a light level of three, two candles will result in a light level of six, three candles create a light level of nine, and four candles will finally produce a light level of twelve.

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How candles behave and other details

An example of the different colors of candles (Image via Minecraft)

Candles can be waterlogged, meaning they can exist inside of water instead of overwriting it as doors do. However, they cannot be lit while they are waterlogged.

Candles can also be dyed in any of the colors offered by the game. This will include:

• White
• Orange
• Magenta
• Light blue
• Yellow
• Lime
• Pink
• Light gray
• Gray
• Cyan
• Purple
• Blue
• Brown
• Green
• Red
• Black

Once dyed, they cannot be re-dyed, meaning players will need to make new candles if they don't end up liking the dye color they use.

White candles can be found in the ancient cities added in Minecraft's 1.19 The Wild Update, meaning that players without access to bees might still be able to get candles.