Ink Sac

An ink sac is an item dropped by a squid upon death used to create black dye, dark prismarine‌^{[BE only]}, and books and quills.

Obtaining

Mob loot

Squid

A squid drops one to three ink sacs upon death. The maximum amount is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 1 to 6 with Looting III.

Fishing

Ink sacs can be obtained as a "junk" item from fishing. The Luck of the Sea enchantment decreases the chance.

Trading

Wandering traders sometimes sell 3 ink sacs for an emerald in Bedrock Edition. Apprentice level librarians also buy 5 ink sacs for one emerald.

Natural generation

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Bedrock Edition
Ink Sac	Stronghold	Storeroom chest	1–3	40%

Usage

Crafting ingredient

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe	Description
Black Balloon	Latex + Ink Sac + Helium + Lead		‌^{[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]}
Black Bed	Any Bed + Ink Sac		‌^{[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]}
Black Carpet	White Carpet + Ink Sac		‌^{[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]}
Black Concrete Powder	Ink Sac + Sand + Gravel	8	‌^{[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]}
Black Dye	Ink Sac
Black Firework Star	Black Firework Star + Ink Sac		‌^{[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]} Adds a "fade to color" effect to the firework star, overwriting any existing fades. Up to eight dyes can be added.
Black Firework Star	Gunpowder + Ink Sac + Head or Gold Nugget or Feather or Fire Charge + Glowstone Dust + Diamond		‌^{[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]} Up to eight dyes can be added. One head, gold nugget, feather, or fire charge can be added. Both the diamond and the glowstone dust can be added with any of the other ingredients.
Black Shulker Box	Any Shulker Box + Ink Sac		‌^{[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]}
Black Stained Glass	Glass + Ink Sac	8	‌^{[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]}
Black Stained Glass Pane	Glass Pane + Ink Sac	8	‌^{[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]}
Black Terracotta	Terracotta + Ink Sac	8	‌^{[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]}
Black Wool	Any Wool + Ink Sac		‌^{[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]}
Book and Quill	Book + Ink Sac + Feather
Dark Prismarine	Prismarine Shard + Ink Sac		‌^{[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]}
Gray Dye	Ink Sac + Bone Meal or White Dye	2	‌^{[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]}

In Bedrock Edition, ink sacs can be also used in banner patterns:

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Black Banner pattern	Ink Sac + Banner
Black Banner image	Ink Sac + Banner + Vines or Bricks or Creeper Head or Wither Skeleton Skull or Oxeye Daisy or Enchanted Golden Apple

Loom ingredient

Name	Ingredients	Loom recipe	Description
Black Banner pattern	White Banner + Ink Sac		Field masoned banner and bordure indented banner don't require banner patterns.‌^{[Java Edition only]} Ink Sac can be used as a dye.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} Note: The loom is using the Java Edition interface.
Black Banner image	White Banner + Ink Sac + Banner Pattern		Exceptions: Field masoned and bordure indented banner patterns.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} Ink Sac can be used as a dye.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} Note: The loom is using the Java Edition interface.

Dye

In Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education, ink sac can be:

Applied to sheep to dye their wool, which can then be sheared for 1–3 blocks of black wool.
Applied to tamed wolves and cats to dye their collars.
Used to dye or stain wool, carpets, candles, leather armor, leather horse armor, wolf armor, beds, glass, glass panes, terracotta, shulker boxes, and bundles.
Combined with gunpowder to make a firework star.
Combined with a firework star to create a fade-to-color effect.
Used to add patterns to banners.
Used to dye shulkers in Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education.
Used to dye water contained in cauldrons in Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education.
Combined with sand and gravel to craft concrete powder.
Combined with compounds to craft balloons or glow sticks in Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education.
Used to change the color of the text on signs or hanging signs.
Each type of dark prismarine can be crafted using varying amounts of 8 prismarine shards.

Trading

Journeyman-level librarian villagers have a ²⁄₃ chance to buy five ink sacs for an emerald. They always offer the trade in Bedrock Edition.

Signs

Ink sacs can be applied to signs or hanging signs to revert glowing text back to default.

Sounds

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Ink Sac splotches	Blocks	When an ink sac is used on a sign	`item.ink_sac.use`	`subtitles.item.ink_sac.use`	1.0	varies ^{[sound 1]}	16

↑ Each sound can be 0.85, 0.88, or 0.9

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Sound	When an ink sac is used on a sign	`sign.ink_sac.use`	1.0	1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Translation key
Ink Sac	`ink_sac`	Item	`item.minecraft.ink_sac`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Alias ID	Numeric ID	Form	Translation key
Ink Sac	`ink_sac`	`dye / 0`	`413`	Item	`item.dye.black.name`

Video

Note: Ink sacs can no longer be used as a dye in Java Edition.

Embedded media: //www.youtube.com/embed/ABYCZfawO60?

History

Java Edition Beta
1.2					Added ink sacks, together with all other dyes.
1.2_02					"Ink Sack" has been renamed to "Ink Sac".
Java Edition
1.3.1		12w17a			Ink sacs are now used to craft book and quills.
1.4.2		12w34a			Added the ability to dye leather armor and wolf collars.
1.4.6		12w49a			Ink sacs can now be crafted with gunpowder to create a firework star.
1.6.1		13w19a			Stained clay can now be crafted.
1.7.2		13w41a			Stained glass can now be crafted.
1.8		14w25a			Ink sacs are now used to craft dark prismarine.
1.8		14w30a			Added banners, which can be dyed with ink sacs.
1.11		16w39a			Ink sacs can now be used to dye shulker boxes.
1.12		17w06a			Ink sacs are now used to craft black concrete powder.
1.12		17w15a			Ink sacs can now be used to dye beds.
1.13		17w47a			The different data values for the `dye` ID have been split up into their own IDs.
1.13		17w47a			Prior to The Flattening, this item's numeral ID was 351.
1.14		18w43a			Ink sacs can now be used to craft black dye.
					Ink sacs can no longer be used as a dye.
					All of the dye-related functions and crafting recipes of ink sac (except books and quills and dark prismarine) have been transferred to black dye.
					The texture of ink sacs has been changed.
		19w11a			Librarian villagers now buy ink sacs.
1.15		Pre-release 1			Ink sacs are no longer used to craft dark prismarine.
1.17		21w03a			Ink sacs can now be used to remove the text's glowing effect of a sign.
1.20 (Experimental)		22w42a			Ink sacs can now be used to remove the text's glowing effect of a hanging sign.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.3.0					Added ink sacs. They are currently unobtainable and serve no purpose.
v0.8.0		build 1			Ink sacs can now be used to craft cocoa beans.
v0.8.0		build 3			Ink sacs are now available in creative.
v0.9.0		build 1			Ink sacs now generate in village and stronghold chests.
v0.11.0		build 1			Ink sacs can now be obtained from squid.
v0.11.0		build 1			Ink sacs can now be obtained as a junk item from fishing.
v0.14.0		build 1			Ink sacs now can now be used to dye water in cauldrons.
v0.16.0		build 1			Ink sacs are no longer used to craft cocoa beans.
v0.16.0		build 1			Ink sacs can now be used to craft dark prismarine.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0		alpha 0.17.0.1			Ink sacs can now be used to dye shulkers.
1.1.0		alpha 1.1.0.0			Ink sacs are now used to re-dye beds.
1.1.0		alpha 1.1.0.0			Ink sacs can now be used to dye shulker boxes.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0		beta 1.2.0.2			Ink sacs can now be used to craft book and quills.
					Added banners, which can be dyed with ink sacs.
					Ink sacs can now be crafted with gunpowder to create firework stars.
					Ink sacs can now be used to craft black concrete powder.
					Stained glass can now be crafted.
1.4.0		beta 1.2.20.1			Ink sacs can now be crafted from iron, sulfur, and 4 oxygen in the compound creators.
1.4.0		beta 1.2.20.1			Ink sacs can now be used to craft balloons and glow sticks.
1.8.0		beta 1.8.0.10			Ink sacs can now be used to craft black dye.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			Ink sacs can now be bought from wandering traders.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The texture of ink sacs has been changed.
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.4			Ink sacs can now be sold to librarian villagers.
1.16.100		beta 1.16.100.56			The ID of ink sacs has been changed from `dye/0` to `ink_sac`.
1.16.210		beta 1.16.210.59			Ink sacs can now be used to revert glowing text on signs to normal.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added ink sacs.
		1.90			The texture of ink sacs has been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added ink sacs.

Issues

Issues relating to "Ink Sac" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

References

↑ MC-150278

Items

[2] Each sound can be 0.85, 0.88, or 0.9

[1] MC-150278

[sound 1]