How to Make Lanterns In Minecraft

Shahrukh S

Shahrukh Sial is a gaming content writer at Sparked Host. He covers game guides, tips, and updates to help players improve their skills and enjoy a better gaming experience.

Apr 13 2026

Minecraft is a world where light is your best friend when the sun goes down. If you are tired of using basic torches that look messy on your walls, it is time to upgrade your home with a lantern. This item is not just for survival; it is a statement of style for any player who wants their base to look truly professional.

This beautiful light source provides a professional touch to any village build or secret base. It is a favorite for players who want a permanent source of light that looks much better than a simple stick with coal. Using a lantern ensures that your entryways and hallways feel warm and inviting rather than dark and dangerous.

You will find that learning how to make a lantern in minecraft is a great way to improve your building skills. Once you master this craft, you can start decorating your house with hanging lights that feel truly magical. The transition from early-game survival to late-game aesthetics starts with small details like replacing your flickering torches with sturdy, glowing lanterns.

What is a Lantern in Minecraft

A lantern in minecraft is an aesthetic and functional upgrade to the traditional torch. It is a solid block that provides a high level of illumination while offering a more refined and industrial look for your builds. Unlike other light sources that might feel temporary, the lantern feels like a part of the architecture itself.

This item is considered a permanent source of light that does not burn out or break easily. Lanterns can be placed on the top or bottom surfaces of solid blocks, allowing you to either set them on top of a block or hang them from a ceiling. When a lantern appears hanging from the underside of a block or attached to a chain, it displays a distinct suspended look, adding to the ambiance of your build. Featuring lanterns in your builds not only improves lighting but also adds visual appeal due to their unique glow and design.

Lantern Crafting Recipes

Crafting these items is pretty easy once you have gathered the right materials from your mines and forests. You do not need a complex setup, as a standard crafting menu is all you need to get started today. All it takes is a little bit of iron and some coal to begin your journey toward a better base.

The process involves combining a basic light source with metal fragments to create a more durable frame. This makes the lantern a bit more expensive than a torch, but the visual results are well worth the extra effort. The shift from wood to metal lighting is a sign that your survival world is progressing into a more advanced era.

How to Craft a Lantern (Java, Bedrock, PE, Console)

To craft a lantern, you must open your 3x3 crafting grid. You will need to place one torch in the very center of the grid. Surround that torch with eight iron nuggets to complete the frame and create your new light. This recipe is identical across the Java Edition, Bedrock Edition, and all console versions of the game.

Recipe for Lantern in Minecraft

The exact recipe requires one standard torch and eight iron nuggets. You can get nuggets by placing one iron ingot into your crafting area, which yields nine nuggets. This leaves you with one extra nugget after you finish your first lantern. It is an efficient use of resources that allows you even to transform old iron tools into nuggets if you are short on ingots.

How to Create Lanterns in Minecraft

Once you have the required materials, simply follow the grid pattern. The lantern will appear in the result box on the right. Move the lantern to your inventory, and you are ready to start lighting up your dark caves and hallways. Always remember that you can craft these in bulk if you have enough iron and wood, which is recommended for large lighting projects.

How to Make a Lantern in Creative Mode

In creative mode, you do not need to gather any materials at all. Simply open the creative inventory menu and search for the word "lantern" in the search bar. You can pull an infinite amount of them directly into your hotbar. This allows you to focus purely on the design and aesthetics of your build without worrying about resource management or mining.

Types of Lanterns in Minecraft

There are several different lantern blocks available to players, each offering a unique color and light level. Choosing the right one depends on the mood you want to set for your specific room or outdoor area in Minecraft. The variety of lanterns allows for incredible customization in your builds, ensuring no two bases look exactly the same.

From the warm glow of regular lanterns to the spooky blue of soul lanterns, there is a variant for every occasion. Some even change their appearance over time, giving your builds a sense of history and age. Let us break down the specific types of lanterns you can utilize in your next 2026 Minecraft project.

Jack o’Lanterns

The Jack o’Lantern is a classic seasonal light source that is made from a pumpkin. It is a full block that provides a very bright glow, making it perfect for underwater builds or spooky farm decorations during the night. Because it is a full block, it can be used as a structural element, unlike the hanging metal lanterns.

This light source is very unique because it features a face and can be used to build snow golems and iron golems. It is one of the oldest added lanterns in the game and remains a favorite for many veteran players. Its high durability and waterproof nature make it a staple for underwater exploration and base building.

How to Make a Jack o’Lantern

To make one, you need a carved pumpkin and a single torch. Place the carved pumpkin in the crafting grid with the torch directly underneath it. This will create a glowing pumpkin that you can place anywhere. It is a simple two-item recipe that transforms a natural vegetable into a powerful and spooky light source.

How to Carve a Pumpkin into a Jack o’Lantern

Find a pumpkin growing in the wild and use a pair of shears on it. This will carve a face into the pumpkin and drop some seeds. You must carve the pumpkin before you can turn it into a light source. This mechanic adds a step of interaction with the world, making the process of gathering these lights feel more immersive.

What Does a Jack o’Lantern Do in Minecraft

Aside from providing a light level of 15, it acts as a building block for golems. It is also one of the few light sources that stays re lit even when placed entirely underwater, which is very useful. It can even be used to craft a pumpkin pie if you decide you would rather eat your decorations than display them.

How to Wear a Jack o’Lantern

You can actually place a carved pumpkin or a Jack o’Lantern on your head like a helmet. This image might look funny, but it actually prevents Endermen from attacking you even if you look directly at their eyes. It is an essential strategy for players who are exploring the End or gathering ender pearls in the warped forest.

How to Make a Jack o’Lantern Banner

You can use a carved pumpkin in a loom with a banner to create a specialized "Creeper" charge pattern. This allows you to decorate your house with spooky flags that match your glowing pumpkin decorations perfectly. Combining these banners with your lighting creates a cohesive theme for your base.

Sea Lanterns

Sea lanterns are beautiful, white glowing blocks found deep in the ocean. They offer a clean, modern look that is very different from the metal lanterns found on land. They are perfect for high-end underwater bases or sleek, futuristic cities. Their light is bright and cold, providing a different vibe than the warm orange of a standard lantern.

How to Make a Sea Lantern

To craft a sea lantern, you need four prismarine shards and five prismarine crystals. These materials are only dropped by Guardians and Elder Guardians, so you will need to head to an Ocean Monument to find them. It is a high-level crafting task that requires significant combat prowess and preparation.

How to Mine and Pick Up Sea Lanterns

Be careful when breaking these blocks! You must use a tool with the Silk Touch enchantment to pick up the block itself. If you break it with a regular pickaxe, it will shatter and only drop prismarine crystals. Losing these blocks due to improper mining is a common and painful mistake for many players.

How to Get Sea Lanterns Easily

The easiest way to get them is to find an Ocean Monument and use a Silk Touch pickaxe to steal them from the walls. You can find dozens of them lighting up the large rooms and hallways inside the monument. This is much faster than crafting them one by one if you have the gear to survive the Guardian attacks.

Best Way to Farm Sea Lanterns

The best way to get an infinite supply is to build a Guardian farm. This is a complex project involving draining a large area of the ocean, but it will provide you with all the shards and crystals you need to craft thousands of lanterns for your world. It is the ultimate goal for any player who wants to use sea lanterns as their primary light.

Can You Turn Sea Lanterns Off and On

Unlike a redstone lantern, sea lanterns are always on. They do not respond to levers or switches. If you want a light you can turn off, you might want to look at redstone lamps instead. However, for constant, high-powered illumination, the sea lantern is unmatched in its beauty and consistency.

Soul Lanterns

A soul lantern is a turquoise variant of the regular lantern that uses soul fire. It provides a cool, blue glow that is perfect for Nether bases or spooky mansions where you want a dimmer, more mysterious atmosphere. The blue light feels mystical and otherworldly, setting a different tone than any other light source.

While they look amazing, they are not as bright as regular lanterns. However, they have a very special mechanic that helps protect you from certain mobs found in the Nether, making them a functional choice for explorers. Their ability to influence mob behavior makes them more than just a decorative item.

How to Make a Soul Lantern

To make a soul fire lantern, follow the standard lantern recipe but replace the regular torch with a soul torch. You make a soul torch by adding soul soil or soul sand to a regular torch recipe. This connection to the Nether's "Soul" blocks gives the lantern its distinct blue color and unique properties.

What Does a Soul Lantern Do

The soul lantern emits a lower light level of 10, which is enough to prevent most mobs from spawning. More importantly, soul lanterns repel piglins, keeping them away from your items and your village build in the Nether. This makes them an essential tool for building safe zones in the dangerous Soul Sand Valley.

Other Lantern Variants

Minecraft continues to evolve, and the team decided to add even more ways to light up your world. From the copper variant to redstone-powered options, the variety of lantern blocks has never been higher than in 2026. These new variants allow for even more specific architectural styles and functional builds.

How to Make a Redstone Lantern

While not technically a "lantern" by name, the Redstone Lamp functions similarly. You craft it using four redstone dust and one glowstone block. It is the only light source in this category that you can turn off. This makes it the foundation for automated lighting systems that respond to the time of day.

How to Make a Blue Lantern

The "blue lantern" is another name for the soul lantern. Simply surround a soul torch with iron nuggets in your crafting menu. It is the only way to get a blue, hanging light source in the game, making it a very popular choice for fantasy-themed builds and magical forests.

How to Make a Copper Lantern

The copper variant was a highly anticipated addition to the 2026 updates. You craft it using copper ingots and a torch. These copper lanterns will oxidize over time, changing from a bright orange to a beautiful weathered green as they age, adding a dynamic sense of time to your builds.

Quick Comparison of Lighting Values

Lantern Type	Light Level	Special Property
Regular Lantern	15	Highest hanging light
Soul Lantern	10	Repels Piglins
Jack o'Lantern	15	Works underwater / Golems
Sea Lantern	15	Clean white light / Full block
Copper Lantern	12	Oxidizes over time

How to Use Lanterns in Minecraft

Lanterns are unique because lanterns can be placed on the top or bottom of a block adjacent to an air block, depending on whether the targeted block is a floor or ceiling block. Sometimes, placing a lantern in certain positions, such as under a block or on a fence, may require sneaking to avoid interacting with the block instead. You can hang them from almost any solid or ceiling block, which gives you a lot of freedom when designing your interior spaces. Their dual-placement capability is what sets them apart from almost every other decorative light in the game.

They are designed to be hanging lanterns, meaning they look best when suspended from a ceiling block or a chain. Lanterns are often used inside houses and other structures for both lighting and decoration, making a lantern inside a building both functional and visually appealing. This section will teach you how to place them correctly so they look natural and intentional in your world. Proper placement is the key to moving from a “noob” house to a professional Minecraft estate.

How to Place Lanterns

To place a lantern, select it in your hotbar and press use on a targeted block or an adjacent air block. Lanterns can be placed on the top or bottom surfaces of a block—placing it on the top surface will make it sit upright, while placing it on the bottom surface will make it hang. Placement depends on the block adjacent to the air block where you want the lantern, and you cannot place lanterns on the sides of blocks like you can with torches. If the supporting block receives a block update that makes it unable to support the lantern (such as being broken or changed), the lantern will be removed and dropped as an item.

How to Hang Lanterns (Chains, Walls, Ceilings)

When you place a lantern hanging from a block, it will automatically attach itself with a small handle. If you hang a lantern from a ceiling block, the lantern appears suspended with its handle connected directly to the ceiling block or to a chain if one is used. You can also place a chain first and then attach the lantern to the bottom of the chain for a realistic look. This “chain and lantern” combo is a favorite for dungeon builds and castle hallways.

How to Build Lanterns in Minecraft

You can build elaborate lamp posts by placing a fence post and then putting a lantern on top. This is a classic village build technique that makes your paths look safe and well-lit for all the villagers. Lamp posts add verticality to your landscaping and help define the boundaries of your property.

How to Make Floating Lanterns

While a lantern usually needs a support platform, you can create a "floating" effect. Place a block, attach the lantern to the bottom, and then break the block. In some versions, the lantern will remain in the air. This is perfect for creating a "floating lantern festival" look above a lake or a magical forest.

How to Light a Lantern

You do not need flint and steel to light a lantern. As soon as you craft it and place it, the lantern will glow automatically. It is a permanent light source that does not require any fuel to stay bright. This makes it a much more convenient option than candles or fire-based lighting that might require manual relighting.

How to Make Lanterns Glow (Jack o’Lanterns, Sea Lanterns)

These specific blocks glow as soon as they are created. To make a Jack o’Lantern glow, you must combine a pumpkin with a torch in the crafting menu. Sea lanterns glow naturally because of the prismarine crystals used in their construction. Their glow is intrinsic to the materials they are made from.

Lantern Mechanics

Understanding the block states and mechanics of lanterns is key for advanced players. They are more than just pretty lights; they have specific rules about how they interact with the environment, such as melting snow. Mastering these mechanics allows you to use lanterns as functional tools rather than just pretty decorations.

Because they are high-quality light sources, they are considered an upgrade over torches. They provide more light and can even prevent certain environmental effects from happening near your base or farm. Let us look at the technical side of how lanterns function within the physics engine of Minecraft.

Light Level of Lanterns

Regular lanterns are among the most luminous light sources in Minecraft, emitting a light level of 15. The soul fire lantern is slightly dimmer, providing a light level of 10, which is still enough to stop mobs from spawning in most scenarios. High light levels are your best defense against creepers and zombies.

Are Lanterns Brighter Than Torches

Yes, regular lanterns are brighter than standard torches, which only provide a light level of 14. This means a single lantern can cover a slightly larger area, keeping your house much safer from unwanted monsters. That one-level difference might seem small, but it can be the difference between a safe home and a creeper spawning in your living room.

Do Lanterns Melt Snow or Ice

Because they are so bright, lanterns can melt snow layers within 2 blocks and ice within 3 blocks. This is a very important example to remember if you are building a secret ice palace or a base in a snowy tundra. If you want to keep your ice floor solid, you must keep your lanterns far away or use a cooler light source.

Can Lanterns Be Placed Underwater

Regular lanterns and soul lanterns cannot be placed underwater; they will break and drop as an item. However, sea lanterns and Jack o’Lanterns work perfectly fine submerged and are the best way to light the ocean floor. If you are building a pool or an aquarium, these are the only lantern types you should consider.

Can Lanterns Cause Lag

On a large Sparked Host server, having thousands of lanterns can occasionally cause a small amount of light-update lag if they are being moved by pistons. However, because they do not flicker or move, they are generally better for server performance than having too many fires or complex redstone clocks. They are a "server-friendly" lighting option.

Can Lanterns Be Broken or Mined

If a lantern is broken by hand, it will disappear and not drop anything. You must use a pickaxe to retrieve the block's direct item form. This ensures you can pick it up and move it to a new location. This rule applies to both standard and soul variants, so always keep your pickaxe ready when redecorating.

Difference Between Lanterns and Torches

The primary difference is in placement and light output. Torches are cheap and can go on walls, but lanterns are brighter and can hang from ceilings. Lanterns also have a larger "hitbox," meaning they feel more like a physical object in the world rather than just a texture on a block.

Difference Between Redstone Lamps and Sea Lanterns

Sea lanterns are always on and have a clean, white image. Redstone lamps require a signal to work and have a wooden, brownish frame. Sea lanterns are better for constant light, while redstone lamps are better for interactive builds where you want to control the environment with a switch or a sensor.

Where to Find Lanterns in Minecraft

If you do not want to craft them, you can find lanterns throughout the world of Minecraft. Lanterns are lantern naturally generated in certain structures, and the natural generation of lanterns occurs in places like snowy tundra villages and bastion remnants. They generate naturally in specific structures and villages, reflecting the culture and environment of the people who live there. Showing lanterns in these locations highlights their use as both functional light sources and decorative elements in the game world. Knowing where to find them for free can save you a lot of iron ingots in the early stages of your survival game.

Finding them in the wild is a great way to save on iron nuggets and other required materials. Keep an eye out for these glowing blocks during your travels, especially in the cold biomes or the dark Nether. They are often used as key features in the architecture of the game’s more advanced structures.

Lanterns in Creative Mode

You can find every variant of the lantern in minecraft by opening your creative inventory menu. They are usually categorized under the "Functional Blocks" or "Lighting" tabs for easy access during your large building projects. This is where you can also find "hidden" variations like the invisible light block if you are an admin.

Where to Find Jack o’Lanterns

These do not spawn naturally in the world. You must find a pumpkin patch, which can generate in almost any grassy biome, and then follow the steps to carve it and add a torch yourself. However, you might find them already placed if you are playing on a specialized adventure map or a server during a Halloween event.

Where to Find Sea Lanterns

These exclusively generate inside Ocean Monuments. They are protected by Guardians, so you will need to be well-equipped with armor and potions if you plan on mining them from the monument walls. They are the primary reward for players brave enough to conquer the depths of the ocean.

Places Where Regular Lanterns Generate

1. Snowy Tundra Villages: Used on lamp posts and often as a lantern inside houses, providing both light and decoration.

2. Bastion Remnants: Found hanging in various parts of the piglin structures.

3. Ancient Cities: Soul lanterns are commonly found here to match the spooky vibe.

4. Trial Chambers: New for 2026, lanterns are often used to light the combat arenas.

Conclusion: Best Uses for Lanterns in Minecraft

The lantern is one of the most versatile and beautiful tools in Minecraft. It offers a significant upgrade over torches by providing more light and a much more professional look for your village build. From the depths of the ocean to the heights of your castle towers, lanterns provide the light you need to stay safe and stylish.

Whether you are using soul lanterns to repel piglins or sea lanterns to light up your underwater base, these blocks are essential. They are easy to craft, easy to hang, and they never go out. They are a sign of a player who cares about the quality of their work and the safety of their base.

The future of Minecraft lighting is bright, and with the wide array of lanterns available in 2026, your creativity is the only limit. Go forth and light up the darkness with your new crafting knowledge!