Lapis Lazuli

Lapis lazuli is a primary color dye obtained by mining lapis lazuli ore with a stone pickaxe or better. Similar to coal, redstone and diamond, lapis lazuli can be used immediately without the need for smelting.

Uses

 * Can be combined with wool to make blue wool.
 * Can be applied to sheep, which will yield 1-3 blocks of blue wool when sheared.
 * A lapis lazuli block can be formed by filling a crafting grid with 9 dye pieces.

Smelting
Redundant: When mined Lapis Lazuli ore produces 4-8 Lapis Lazuli dyes.

Rarity and location
Lapis lazuli has a similar rarity to diamond, but is found in less predictable ranges of layers, thus making it harder to find in predictable patterns. This fosters a belief among some players that lapis lazuli is rarer than diamond. But, due to the fact that destroying a Lapis block with a pickaxe drops multiple lapis dyes, only the ore is as rare as diamond, not lapis itself.

Trivia

 * In real life, lapis lazuli is a medium hard stone used for making jewelry and as a pigment.
 * Lapis lazuli dye was going to be a crafting ingredient for the block Crying Obsidian, but neither the block nor the recipe were ever added.
 * Lapis lazuli is the only dye obtainable through mining.
 * Lapis lazuli is presumably the "blue dye" that triggered a player to go into a blind rage in the popular youtube meme "WOOL"

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