One of the most challenging elements to complete your best Minecraft house ideas is the lighting. Blocks like glowstone are too distracting, while traditional items like a torch feel out of place. The only reliable solution left is a lantern, and fortunately, they are the best. Once you learn how to make a lantern in Minecraft, you won’t need any other light sources. They are bright, aesthetic, and easy to craft. And if you want variety, they also have a calmer soul lantern variant. With that said, let’s dive right in and learn how to make a lantern in Minecraft.
Make a Lantern in Minecraft (2022)
We will first cover the ingredients for a lantern in Minecraft, followed by its usage. But you can use the table below to explore the crafting recipe directly.
What is a Lantern in Minecraft
As the name suggests, lanterns are a light source in the game that can be placed like blocks. They are one of the brightest sources of light and are comparable to lava, beacon, and similar blocks. But what sets them truly apart is their design. Even though the lanterns act like blocks, they have a compact design that visually doesn’t take up much space.
Lanterns have a piece of chain on top of their head. So, when placed beneath another block, they appear to be hanging from that block. Doesn’t that look cool? On the other hand, when you place them without any block on top, the same lantern’s chain changes its appearance. Then it looks like a handle to hold the lantern.
Types of Lanterns in Minecraft
Technically, lanterns use fire as their source of light. Because of that, we only have two types of lanterns in the game: Regular Lantern and Soul Lantern.
The regular lantern is orange and yellow in color. Meanwhile, the soul lantern is a shade of blue. It is also worth noting that only the regular lantern, with a light level of 15, is in the group of brightest light sources. The soul lantern only has a light level of 10 and isn’t even as bright as a Nether portal in Minecraft. You can choose the lantern variant based on your requirements and design.
How to Get Lanterns in Minecraft
Naturally, you can find regular lanterns in the following locations:
- Snowy Tundra Villages
- Bastion Remnants
In the village, they usually generate on top of pillars around farms and on some buildings. As for the Remnants, the lanterns’ spawn location is random. But if you want to get naturally generating soul lanterns, you have to visit ancient cities. That is the only spot in Minecraft that spawns soul lanterns naturally.
Get Lanterns by Trading
You can trade with apprentice-level librarian villagers to get regular lanterns in exchange for an emerald. But they don’t give out soul lanterns at any level.
Items Required to Make a Lantern
You need the following items to craft lanterns in Minecraft:
- 8 Iron Nuggets
- A Torch (for Regular Lantern)
- A Soul Torch (for Soul Lantern)
- Crafting Table
You can get the iron nuggets by placing an iron ingot in the crafting area. One iron ingot can give you nine nuggets. Though, you only need eight to craft a lantern. You can use our Minecraft ore distribution guide to find iron ore easily to make an iron ingot.
Alternatively, if you have extra iron gear, you can smelt it inside a smoker, furnace, or blast furnace. Smelting an iron item gives out one iron nugget irrespective of the durability or type of that item.
How to Make a Torch in Minecraft
Minecraft has two types of torches: soul torches and regular torches. To make a regular torch, place a piece of coal or charcoal in a cell above a stick in the crafting area. This torch allows you to craft a regular lantern in the game.
However, if you want to make a soul lantern, you have to craft a soul torch instead of a regular torch. To craft it, place a block of soul soil or soul sand in the cell below the stick and a piece of coal or charcoal above. The crafting recipe for both torches is vertical, and you can make them in any column of the crafting area.
Minecraft Lantern Crafting Recipe
The crafting recipe for both lanterns is simple. You just have to place the torch or soul torch in the middle cell of the crafting area. Then, you need to place iron nuggets all around the torch, completely filling every other cell. This will give you the lantern that you can then drag to your inventory.
How to Use a Lantern
Once crafted, you can place the lantern below any block to hang it. Or you can place it on top of another block for a lamp-like appearance. But make sure you break it only with a pickaxe (can be made out of any material). When broken without a pickaxe, the lantern disappears without dropping anything.
Uses of a Lantern in Minecraft
You can use a lantern for the following purposes in the game:
- As a light source to illuminate your house in Minecraft
- Because it is a bright light source, the lantern can melt snow slowly
- As an added benefit, the soul lantern, similarly to soul fire, easily repels piglins
Bonus: How to Make a Chain
Usually, chains and lanterns go hand-in-hand in Minecraft. Both of them fit with each other aesthetically and practically. So, let’s quickly go over how to make a chain in Minecraft. To craft a chain, you need the following items: 2 Iron Nuggets and an Iron Ingot.
Once you have the ingredients, you have to place the iron ingot in the middle cell of a crafting area column with iron nuggets in the top and bottom cells. You can craft this recipe in any column as long as the rows being used are adjacent.
Craft and Use a Lantern in Minecraft Today
You are now ready to illuminate your best Minecraft maps with unique and easy to craft lamp-like lanterns. But you don’t have to stop here. If you want to go all out with fancy lights, the Minecraft 1.19’s froglights are the best solution. You just have to follow our guide to Minecraft frogs to discover how to make these blocks. However, if crafting isn’t your favorite pastime, the best Minecraft mods can seem like a better alternative. You just have to install Forge in Minecraft first to run them properly. Coming to the lanterns as a decorative item, you can also make paintings in Minecraft to renovate your house. They aren’t lit like lanterns but can help you present your enlightened personality with unique artworks. With that said, which type of lantern are you going to make? Soul lantern or regular lantern? Tell us in the comments!
