Building · Smelting · 1.21

How to Make Glass

A furnace turns the cheapest block in the game into windows, lamps, and stained-glass that paints the floor in colour. It all starts with a pile of sand.

From sand to glass

Smelt sand, or red sand, in a furnace. One piece of sand, one glass block.

Sand

🔥→Furnace

Glass

Sixteen colours

Ring eight glass around one dye for eight stained glass. One recipe per dye, sixteen in all.

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Glass panes

Lay six glass across the middle and bottom rows for sixteen thin panes, perfect for windows.

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x16

Tinted glass

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One glass and four amethyst shards craft two tinted glass: you can still see through it, but it blocks light completely, unlike normal glass.

Keep the block

Glass and panes shatter into nothing when you mine them by hand. To move a window, use a tool with Silk Touch and the block drops itself intact.

Quick answers

How do I make glass?

Smelt sand or red sand in a furnace. Each piece of sand becomes one glass block, and any fuel works.

Why did my glass vanish when I broke it?

Plain glass and panes drop nothing when mined normally. Use a Silk Touch tool to recover the block itself.

What are glass panes for?

Thin glass for windows and railings. Six glass make sixteen panes, so they stretch your sand a long way.

How do I colour glass?

Surround one dye with eight glass to make eight stained glass of that colour. There are sixteen colours, one per dye.

What is tinted glass?

Glass crafted with four amethyst shards. You can still see through it, but it blocks all light, unlike normal glass.

What needs glass?

Beacons, daylight detectors, end crystals and every window you ever build. It is one of the most-used crafted blocks.

How much sand do I need for a beacon pyramid?

The glass goes on the beacon recipe, not the pyramid. One beacon needs five glass, three obsidian and one nether star. A full level-four pyramid is 164 blocks of iron, gold, diamond, emerald or netherite, no glass.

Does glass burn or catch fire?

No. Glass is fully fireproof and will not spread or stop flames. It is safe to place next to lava and netherrack fire, which makes it handy for nether builds and fireplaces.

Can mobs see through glass?

Yes. Glass blocks light from torches but does not block a mob's line of sight, so a zombie or skeleton can still spot you through a glass wall. It does stop them pathing through, so it works as a barrier.

What is the fastest way to smelt a lot of glass?

Glass only smelts in a normal furnace, not a blast furnace or smoker. Stack several furnaces side by side, feed each with coal, charcoal or a bucket of lava, then pull glass from the bottom slot. One lava bucket smelts 100 items.

Do glass panes connect to each other?

Yes. Panes auto-join to neighbouring panes, glass blocks and most solid blocks on the same level, forming a flat sheet. A single pane on its own shows as a small plus shape.

Things that trip people up

Small details that save sand and frustration.

Sand and red sand both smelt into the same plain glass. Red sand does not give red glass, you still need a dye for colour.
Crafting eight panes back into blocks is not possible. Panes are a one-way recipe, so cut sand only as far as you need.
Stained glass cannot be re-dyed in vanilla. Once a colour is set there is no recipe to change it or strip it back to plain, so craft the colour you actually want.
Tinted glass cannot be coloured. It only comes in the dark amethyst tint and blocks light completely, which makes it good for hidden rooms and dark mob-farm walls you can still see through.
Glass and panes let beacon and conduit beams pass straight through, so you can box a beacon in glass and the buff still works.
Endermen will not teleport onto glass under an open sky the same way they do on solid blocks, useful for enderman-proof roofs.

Smelt it in a furnace, look up glass, dyes and amethyst in the items database, or open the crafting recipes for panes, stained and tinted glass.