There are a plethora of different crafting recipes in Minecraft, and it can be difficult at times to keep them all straight. Players need to remember what materials an item recipe requires, if it needs to be placed on the crafting table in any specific shape, and what each of these items actually do. In the case of paintings, their primary use is for decoration, but crafty player have found many other uses for them as well. This item is particularly strange due to how it is placed, though, so it helps to get a refresher on how to craft paintings and how they work.
Minecraft has had paintings since the very beginning of its indev phases, and the number of different paintings available has greatly expanded since then. Paintings are unique from many other types of blocks or wall decorations for a few reasons, making them useful in a lot of very interesting ways.
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Thankfully, paintings are super easy to craft, only requiring eight sticks and a block of wool. Players place the sticks in a ring around the block of wool on the crafting table and it will craft one painting. It doesn't matter what color wool the player uses, as this will not effect the outcome of the painting in any way. Aside from crafting one, players can also get paintings by breaking ones that they find placed by other players or trading with a master level Shepherd villager (usually three paintings for two emeralds).
After obtaining a painting in Minecraft, players can use them by simply placing them on the side of a solid block or sign. Paintings come in seven different sizes, and after being placed on a wall, they will choose a random painting from the largest size possible in the given space.
- 1 x 1 paintings (small square) - 7 options
- 2 x 1 paintings (long rectangle) - 5 options
- 1 x 2 paintings (tall rectangle) - 2 options
- 2 x 2 paintings (medium square) - 6 options
- 4 x 2 paintings (large rectangle) - 1 option
- 4 x 3 paintings (thick rectangle) - 2 options
- 4 x 4 paintings (large square) - 3 options
Paintings are considered entities, meaning they can share the same block as certain other items like torches so long as the items aren't physically touching. What's more, since they can be placed on signs, they can be used to create secret entrances in Minecraft. Players and mobs can walk though paintings and signs, so players can put a 1 x 2 array of signs behind a painting and use it as a secret passage.
Minecraft is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.