Taking Inventory: Amethyst Shard

In the first part of the upcoming Caves & Cliffs update, Minecraft is getting a lot of exciting new underground features. One of those is the amethyst geode ⁠– an uncommon geological formation that contains a new resource ⁠– amethyst shards, which just so happens to be our item of the week. What a lucky coincidence! 

Here’s how they work. Geodes spawn underground and are surrounded by smooth basalt blocks. They’re also always partially submerged in some kind of solid block – usually stone. Dig through that, or find a crack in the surface, and you’ll uncover a layer of calcite ⁠– another new mineral. Inside the calcite layer, you’ll find something rather special ⁠– a mix of amethyst and budding amethyst blocks ⁠– as well as clusters of amethyst that when broken drop amethyst shards.

So when you find a geode, it’s a good idea to remember the location somehow, because you’ll want to come back to it again and again to harvest clusters. How will you mark it? Well, that’s up to you.

Once you’ve got a nice collection of shards, you might be wondering what to do with them. At the time of writing, there are three recipes. Four shards in a crafting grid will create a block, one shard and two copper ingots will create a spyglass ⁠– more on that in the coming weeks. And finally, surrounding a piece of regular glass with four amethyst shards will let you make tinted glass ⁠– which blocks light while still allowing you to see through it. Handy for creating mob farms!