How to Make and Use Item Frames in Minecraft

How to Craft an Item Frame in Minecraft

Collect 8 Sticks and 1 Leather. Item Frames only require Sticks and Leather, and they are both common materials that you can find at the start of any Minecraft game. To find Sticks, try breaking apart leaves on trees to see if any Sticks drop. Alternatively, hit the tree trunks until they break into logs. Open the crafting menu and place the logs in a single space to create planks. Then, place 2 planks in a single column to create 4 Sticks. To find Leather, try attacking cows, horses, donkeys, mules, or llamas. You may also find leather in random chests throughout a village, especially if the building has cauldrons outside.

Arrange Sticks and Leather on a crafting table to make an Item Frame. First, make a crafting table using 4 wood planks and place it in the world. Open up the crafting table and place the Leather in the center square. Fill in the remaining squares with Sticks to make the Item Frame. Then, just add the Frame to your inventory.

Alternate Ways to Find Item Frames

Trade Emeralds with a Cartographer villager for an Item Frame. Minecraft Specialist Zac Churchill says that “you can exchange materials that you find throughout the game for many different items depending on the specialization of the villager.” Look for the Cartographer villager with a monocle and talk with them. You will have the option to trade 7 Emeralds for 1 Item Frame. If the Cartographer villager doesn’t have an Item Frame for trade yet, make different trades to increase the villager’s level. When the level increases, more trade options unlock in the menu. Churchill adds that you’ll find chests filled with random items all around a village, so there may be a chance to find Item Frames.

Explore End Ships to loot for Item Frames. When you go to The End and fight the Ender Dragon, there is a chance End Ships will spawn near cities. Inside the ship, there’s 1 Item Frame with Elytra inside. Elytra is one of the rarest items in the game and it allows you to fly, so make sure you have inventory space to carry it.

Access the Item Frame in the materials menu in Creative Mode. If you’re playing in Creative Mode, then just type the word “frame” into the materials menu and it will appear. Alternatively, look for the frame under the Functional Blocks menu with a picture of a sign. In Minecraft versions 1.19 and earlier, Item Frames are under the Decoration Blocks menu with a picture of flowers.

How to Use Item Frames in Minecraft

Right-click while holding the Item Frame to place it on a block. You can place an Item Frame on any side of any solid block. Approach the block while you have the Frame equipped, and right-click to place it. If you’re playing with a controller, use the left trigger to place the Frame. If you accidentally place the Frame in the wrong spot, click on it to break it and add it back to your inventory. If you have trouble placing the Frame, try holding Shift to crouch before putting the frame down.

Equip an item and right-click on the Frame to store it. Each Item Frame can store a single item, so equip that item so you’re holding it. Stand in front of the frame and right-click to transfer the item. A small image of the item will appear inside the frame. After you place an item in the frame, right-click on it again to rotate the item by 45 degrees.

Hit the frame to remove the item. Whenever you want to use a stored item, simply click on the frame to make the item pop out. If you have space in your inventory, you’ll automatically pick up the dropped item. When you place the item back in the frame, the game will remember which direction it was rotated. If you hit the Frame while it’s empty, then it will break off the surface so you can pick it up and place it somewhere else.

How to Make Glow Item Frames

Place a Glow Inc Sac and Frame on a crafting table. You can find a Glow Inc Sac by defeating a glow squid. Place the Item Frame and Glow Inc Sac in any squares of the crafting menu to turn it into a Glow Item Frame. Glow Item Frames have a soft light so they’re visible in the dark and slightly light up a room.

How to Make Invisible Item Frames in Creative Mode

If you’re playing in Creative Mode, first go into the settings and set “Allow Cheats” to on. Then open the chat and type in “/give @s item_frame{EntityTag:{Invisible:1b}}”. An Item Frame will be automatically added to your inventory, but it will be invisible when you place it. However, the item you can still see the item you place in the Frame.

Decorating with Item Frames

Place Frames on chests to label what items you’re storing. Crouch next to a chest and place an Item Frame on its side. If you’re storing a specific item or material in the chest, put one of the items in the Frame. Label each chest so it’s easy to tell what’s inside at a glance. If you’re storing tools inside the chest, then put a pickaxe or shovel in the Frame. If you have armor and weapons in a chest, then put a sword in the Frame. If you have metals and gems in the chest, then put a gold bar in the Frame.

Use Frames and Arrows to make directional signs. If you want to mark out a route for players to follow, put a frame up on a post or tree. Place an Arrow or Hopper inside the frame and rotate it until it points in the direction you want it to.

Put frames on a table and store food to make them look like plates. If you want to make a house in Minecraft look more inviting, make a table and place frames flat on the surface. Add foods like chicken, steak, pork, carrots, apples, and other food in the frames so it looks like there's a feast laid out.

Create lily pads with a Frame, flower, and coral. If you want to decorate a pond in your Minecraft world, place a dirt block in the water and place a trapdoor connected to it. Place the frame flat on the trapdoor and put a sunflower inside. After that, place a coral block on the trapdoor to make the lily’s petals. After you build the trapdoor, you can safely destroy the dirt block.

Use invisible Frames with stone blocks to make small rocks on the ground. If you want to add a more decorative touch outside of your Minecraft home, lay some invisible Frames flat on the ground. Place stone buttons, stone walls, and cobblestone blocks inside the frames so they look like small pebbles on the ground. If you’re in Survival mode, cover the frames with snow so only the stored items show through. They’ll look like small pebbles in the snow.