To make glazed terracotta in Minecraft, smelt a block of stained terracotta in a furnace. You will get the same color back, but in the glazed form with its bright pattern. Glazed terracotta comes in 16 colors and is mainly used for decorative floors and walls.
Glazed Terracotta was added as part of the “World of Color” update (1.12). This update is the same one that added concrete to the game.
In the photo above, you can see the main patterns and designs that can be made with glazed terracotta in Minecraft. There are more potential patterns than what is shown in the image, but these are the main patterns.
How to Make Glazed Terracotta (Step by Step)
The full process from clay to glazed terracotta only takes a few steps:
- Get terracotta. Either smelt clay blocks in a furnace, or mine terracotta directly in a badlands biome (see the tip below). Mining clay without Silk Touch gives you 4 clay balls, so craft them back into a clay block before you smelt it.
- Stain it. Combine 8 terracotta blocks with 1 dye in a crafting table to get 8 stained terracotta of that color.
- Glaze it. Smelt the stained terracotta in a furnace. Out comes glazed terracotta in the same color. Plain terracotta will not go into the furnace, so it has to be stained first.
Tip: The easiest way to find plain terracotta is by mining it in badlands (mesa) biomes, where entire hills are made of it. The stripes in those hills are already stained orange, yellow, red, brown, white, and light gray, so you can smelt those straight into glazed terracotta and skip the dye.
If you need a lot of clay, you can farm it. Place a mud block on top of a block that has pointed dripstone hanging under it, and the mud slowly dries into clay.
One important warning before you smelt: you cannot undo it. Once terracotta is stained or glazed, there is no changing the color or turning it back, so test your pattern with a few blocks before converting a whole stack.
How to Make Glazed Terracotta Patterns
The direction you are facing when you place a glazed terracotta block decides which way its pattern points. That is the whole trick to making patterns. Here is a simple way to build a 2×2 design:
- Place the first block while facing any direction.
- Turn 90 degrees (always the same way, left or right) and place the next block beside it.
- Keep turning 90 degrees the same way for the third and fourth blocks as you go around the square.
- If the design doesn’t line up, break the blocks and try again turning the other way, or start the first block facing a different direction.
Most glazed terracotta textures have a standout detail in one corner, like the flower petals on orange and white or the rings on green. The best-looking 2×2 patterns usually come from turning all four of those details toward the middle, or all four toward the outside corners.
If you want to share a pattern with friends, lay out a matching square of magenta glazed terracotta next to it, placed facing the same way. The arrows show exactly which direction to face for each block.
Hidden Designs in the Patterns
Some glazed terracotta blocks have little secrets built into their textures. Here are the fun ones to look for:
- Magenta glazed terracotta contains an arrow, and the arrow points in the direction you were facing when you placed it. Players use these as direction markers in mazes, mines, and server spawns!
- Cyan glazed terracotta has a creeper face hiding in the pattern.
- Purple glazed terracotta shows the hilt and handguard of a sword.
- Yellow glazed terracotta can be arranged into a sun.
When you place four blocks of the same color in a 2×2 square with the right rotations, the textures line up into one larger connected design. Every color can make 4 different patterns this way, so there is a lot to experiment with.
How To Use Glazed Terracotta in Minecraft
Glazed terracotta is primarily used as a decoration for flooring or walls. Because of the vibrant patterns, it’s important not to over-do it or else your build will look tacky. I recommend using it sparingly, for example as a centerpiece for your wall or floor.
Terracotta still has no stair or slab versions, even after the Wilderness Bound drop added stairs and slabs for concrete and wool. If you need a trim or a step around a glazed terracotta floor, concrete stairs and slabs in a matching color are the closest fit.
Read more: 34 Cool Things to Build in Minecraft When You’re Bored
You can also combine different textures together to create a mural. For example, the below pattern was created by a reddit user:
Glazed terracotta also has a hidden redstone talent: it does not stick to slime or honey blocks, and sticky pistons can push it but not pull it back. Redstone builders love it for flying machines and piston doors because of this one-way behavior. So even if you never decorate with it, it is worth keeping some around.
Minecraft Glazed Terracotta Pattern FAQs
Can you find glazed terracotta without smelting it?
Yes. Trail ruins can contain black, cyan, light blue, light gray, orange, and yellow glazed terracotta, and red glazed terracotta shows up around the ominous vault altars in trial chambers. Expert-level mason villagers also sell glazed terracotta for one emerald each.
What is the difference between terracotta and hardened clay?
They are the same thing. Hardened clay was renamed to terracotta in the World of Color update (1.12), the same update that added glazed terracotta.
Can mobs spawn on glazed terracotta?
Yes. Glazed terracotta is a normal solid block, so hostile mobs can spawn on it in the dark just like on stone. If you use it for a large floor, light the room up the same way you would any other build.
What tool do you need to mine glazed terracotta?
Any pickaxe, even a wooden one. If you break glazed terracotta with your hands or any other tool, it drops nothing, so keep a pickaxe handy when redecorating.
That concludes our guide to glazed terracotta patterns in Minecraft! Have you made a cool mural of your own? Leave a comment below!
