Minecraft: Despicable Me Minions (Statues)

You can make your own minion army from Despicable Me out of only a few blocks per minion. Use yellow and blue wool for the body, levers for arms, a button in an item frame for the eye, and a flower pot with a plant for the hair.

I'll admit that there's a flaw in the design: it looks terrible on the default resource pack. Beware!

On the left is a minion with carpet for hair, which is why I call it the "Groomed Minion." On the right is a minion with the Gru logo.

Finally, we have an "evil" purple minion from Despicable Me 2. If you're on the wild side, you might want an army of these guys instead!

Now that you know how to make some minions, go take over the world with your inanimate helpers. Thanks for reading!

Minecraft: How to Put Books on Bookshelves (Vanilla 1.6)

As of now (1.6), we can't actually put books in bookshelf blocks. So, here's my tutorial on how to simulate bookshelf functionality in Minecraft:

Step 1: Make a frame out of bookshelves like this. The inside space needs at least two empty block spaces per row. If you're wondering why we even need a bookshelf frame, it's so that people can recognize that it's a bookshelf.

Step 2: Place stairs like this.

Step 3: Place more stairs, these ones facing you. This will turn the upper left and lower right stair into a "corner stair piece."

Step 4: Get some hoppers and name them "Bookshelf" (you'll need two for the way we're making it). This step is important, as it makes your bookshelf seem magical.

Step 5: Go to the back of your bookshelf. Place your hoppers touching the corner stair pieces of the bookshelf.

Step 6: Go back to the front. Right-click the little indentations on the corner stair pieces. This is how you access the bookshelf's inventories.

Step 7: Put some books in. You now have a bookshelf that can hold books. Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

Minecraft - Furniture/Detail: Trophies

Sweat runs down your forehead. It's a spleef match, just you and one rival remaining. You've got little space left to move around, and it's shrinking, it's shrinking. Your rival charges at you, full speed ahead. With shovel in hand, you break just the right block. He misses the jump and falls out of the arena. Congratulations, you've won the spleef tournament!

What, now? Make a trophy for your MC achievement(s)! Using three fences and a fancy block to make this trophy shape. "Engrave" your trophy using a sign. "Spleef Champion, 2013."

These are trophies for second and third place. The left was made with iron, and the right was made using the new hardened clay block.

Minecraft - Furniture/Detail: Futuristic "Chibi" Robot and Giant Chick

Hi guys! The idea here is to use objects in item frames as different eyes. As you can see, I've made a friendly robot and a massive chick. The eyes in the top picture were made out of dyed leather boots that were rotated upside-down. The eyes down below were made using enderpearls.

Experiment and see what kind of eyes, ears, and wings you can make!

Minecraft: How to Recover from a Lava Death

This how-to, although not specifically applying to nether and general lava deaths, has advice that does apply to these in-game mishaps as well.

You're mining some obsidian for a portal or maybe an enderchest when suddenly you fall into lava! Something's wrong with your water bucket or you can't seem to get out... whatever it is, you're dead now, and your items are gone, including that diamond pickaxe and your fancy armor.

You feel terrible, but don't worry: it's not game over. You can recover and do even better.

Step 0: Run and check.

If you remember where you were, quickly go down the mine and check to see if anything from your inventory didn't burn. Salvage anything? Awesome! Find nothing? That's okay!

Step 1: Take a break.

This is probably the most important step. Don't try and do anything else in Minecraft because it will aggravate the situation. Log off before you start doing damage to your world out of frustration.

Get up, drink some water, chillax. Minecraft's not your obligation, after all.

When you've calmed down, log back on.

Step 2: Get your inventory back in shape.

You probably have your own inventory layout, right? "Sword in slot 1, pickaxe in slot 2, wood and cobble in the upper left corner, etc..."

Obtain what you can from your chests. Then, go chop some wood; go farm some carrots. If you've only got a few iron ingots or diamonds, only make the most essential tools out of them. The rest will come later.

One thing beneficial about dying in Minecraft is that you've cleared out all of your useless clutter and now are carrying a light and tidy inventory.

Step 3: Go mining.

Go caving or simply dig. You'll need iron/diamonds to replenish your supply of it. Mining is relaxing and makes you feel awesome. Bring water buckets!

Step 4: Celebrate!

You're inventory's clean, you've got fresh armor (that's maybe even enchanted), and you've got chests overflowing with iron and diamonds.

Go build a fortress, shape a monument, or set off some fireworks. You're thriving! Now you just need some obsidian...

Step 5: Go conquer that lava.

I guess there are other ways to get your obsidian. Make an obsidian machine, ask your friends to do it... Nah! For the sake of personal achievement, let's go do it ourselves.

Bring two buckets of water. Not one, but two. I'll explain why. Underground in a cave, dig one block next to a lava lake that has obsidian on top (as in, the top layer of lava has been cooled by your lava bucket). Pour 1 bucket of lava into that block. Sit in the water and mine the adjacent block of obsidian. This way, the water will cool the lava underneath that obsidian block when you mine it. Mine the next adjacent blocks, and so forth.

In the event that your water "tether" stops short and you accidentally fall into lava, use your second bucket to cool the lava as well as your character. "Not today!" you say to the lava.

Thanks for reading!

Have you ever fallen into lava while mining? I know I have, many, many times. Share your disastrous experience in the comments!

Minecraft - Furniture/Detail: Bust Statues

If you don't know what a bust is (I didn't know the obscure word, either), it's a statue with only the head and shoulders. For example, this is a bust:

Image by Flickr photographer @Doug88888. (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

While playing with potential mailbox designs, I inadvertently stumbled upon the idea of a bust in Minecraft. I thought an anvil would make a nice stand for a mailbox since it's made out of iron. When I happened to place the anvil sideways, it became something else.

 A Steve or creeper bust may not be available in survival, but a dropper + wig or wither bust is.

Some servers have a plugin that allows you to obtain custom player faces. I think there's also a way to do it in MC Edit. With that, you can make busts of your friends and family!

Finally, here's a bust similar to the first one, but with a powdered wig/marble composition, depending on how you interpret it. If you're making a Classical adventure map or looking to fill your museum with artifacts, a bust would constitute a splendid candidate!

Minecraft - Furniture/Detail: Birdhouse and Eagle

This morning I made a birdhouse design, but it ended up looking more like a mailbox. It needed a triangular prism roof instead of that slab, and the perch was way too big. I couldn't find a block that would simulate that kind of roof, however, and using a lever as a smaller perch would unfortunately cover up the little hole entrance. That's why I'll admit my this is not the prettiest birdhouse.

Although the design didn't work out, the function is magnificent. The birdhouse has an inventory since it's actually a dropper. I made a little nest inside.

Here's a picture with a chicken on the perch. A little silly, I know, but interesting.

Sometimes things don't turn out the way you expected. My birdhouse transformed into a soaring eagle!

(That's a shot of the eagle from the ground.) Well, thanks for reading!

Minecraft - Furniture/Detail: A Stop Sign and Traffic Lights

I had an urge to create some public signs in Minecraft. Here's a stop sign. I created it using two nether brick fences, a redstone block, and a sign. On the sign, I made an octagon and wrote "STOP."

I used nether brick fence and signs to create an intersection traffic light.

Zoomed in.

Finally, I made one of those smaller traffic lights. Nether brick fence, coal blocks, item frames, and dyed wool.

You can also replace the coal blocks with redstone lamps for a different look. This lead me to an idea about giving this streetlight function by adding levers at the back to show one of the lights "glowing." However, ...

...the lever will also affect adjacent blocks, rendering it unusable.

Well, that's all for today. Have a good night!

Minecraft - Furniture/Detail: Restroom Signs

Today's Invention & Design post is quite simple. I haven't seen public restroom symbols in Minecraft yet, so I decided to share my versions. Here you go!

I hope this gives you some ideas for other public signs, because as I'm writing this I've already conjured some concepts for stop signs. Stay tuned!

Minecraft - Realistic Water Cooler

For the more aesthetically pleasing water cooler, click here. For the more realistically functioning water cooler, stay here.

The8BitMonkey's video on the hollow space of a corner stair piece gave me an idea for a water cooler. You grab a "cup" (empty bottle) from the chest, right click the water cooler, and fill your cup with water. Here's how to make it (and how it works):

Minecraft - Functional Water Cooler

It's a hot summer day and your Minecraft character needs to cool off. Drink some water!

Making the cooler: You could use glass or stained clay for the top block of the water cooler, which holds the "water". You could also use ice, but it's hard to get in survival and it might melt in your house.

I saw Minecraftfurniture.net's water cooler design and thought it could use some function. It didn't actually give you water to drink, so I put a dropper underneath the water cooler and filled it with water bottles. Then I covered the floor back up. Since the button's already there, you can push the button and it'll give you a water bottle.

Because there's a block in front of the dropper (part of the flooring), the dispensed item rises to the surface.

Enjoy your new water cooler! Also, if you'd like to see the more realistically functioning water cooler, click here.

Minecraft - Functional Recycling Bin

A recycling bin design by me.

 In survival, there are a bunch of little scraps that end up in your inventory. Be it bones, to seeds, to an extra trapdoor or stair piece, they clutter and have no use (at the current time). However, we all know it's such a hassle to run all the way back to your chest room and sort through random doodads.

Why not place recycling bins throughout the city to dispose of unneeded items? If a buddy in multiplayer is looking to collect a certain item, he or she can salvage from the recycling bins. For example, rotten flesh may be needed if someone is raising dogs. They can collect via the recycle bin, which will probably accumulate rotten flesh over time.

The recycling bin serves two functions: tidying chests and inventories, and providing free materials to those who need it.

Here's how to make the recycling bin in the picture:

Minecraft: The Dirt Challenge (Survival)

Regarded as the second-ugliest block in Minecraft, dirt houses are "for beginners." Well, not anymore! Dirt is making its comeback in the Dirt Challenge! Can you live alongside the earth, or will you perish of extreme distaste? Put your creativity to the test and make dirt the next style.

Objective:

Live with the dirt! Start with a mud hut; build a dirt village; develop a dirt city; rule a dirt empire!

Rules:

• Make your main building material dirt.
• Connect all your structures together via hallways. This gives your dirt-home an interconnected vibe, much like an anthill.
• You do not need to start a brand new world. You may leave your dirt house.

Advice:

• Using the default texture pack will practically burn your eyes out. Pamplemousse instead, perhaps?
• Windows will brighten up the place and prevent your mansion from getting stuffy.
• Allow grass to grow over your dirt for a nature-based carpet.
• Integrate plants for a wholesome feeling that enlivens the room.
• Play with friends.
• If you're done with the challenge, no biggie. It's for fun!

What are you waiting for? Get your hands dirty (pun intended) and start digging!