Guide:Crafting 101

Crafting Menu
To access the Terraria crafting menu, press the Inventory key (which is Esc by default) while in-game. This will also bring up your inventory, equipment slots and other options. The crafting menu is located in the bottom left of your screen, as indicated in the image below.



You will see anything you can currently craft in this menu. Your options are determined by the items you have in your inventory as well as your proximity to various crafting stations. Next to the item icon you can also see the recipes for the items.

You can click or use the mouse wheel to scroll through items.

Crafting Stations
Currently available stations are Work Bench, Furnace, Hellforge, Alchemy Station, Iron Anvil, Demon Altar, and a Table and Chair (these last two must be near each other). When you stand close to one of these media, your available crafts list will change if you have appropriate materials.



To choose an item to craft, click on the first or second item up or down from the current selection (or use the scroll wheel (movement reversed) on your mouse) to navigate the list. To craft it, click the icon of the item. You will hear the same sound effect you hear when you pick something up off the ground, and the item will attach itself to your cursor. From there you can drop it into your inventory, drop it on the floor by clicking somewhere without clicking any of the inventory or crafting slots, or right-click if it is a stackable item to make more. If you wish to create large amounts of the same item, right-click and hold to very quickly burn through the material. To exit this menu, press the 'Esc' key again.

Complete Station
To create a crafting station capable of producing almost anything, place a furnace (or hellforge if available). Right next to it place an anvil, then a workbench, then a bottle on the workbench, a chair next to the workbench, and a table next to a chair. You may want to submerge them if you want to make bottled water there too. Make sure there are no gaps between them all so you don't have to move to use all of them.



This order will make almost all crafting recipes available at once, making crafting a breeze. Note that in the setup in the image, the regular furnace is useless due to the fact that the Hellforge (the red furnace) can smelt Hellstone in addition to the other ores. You will also still need to venture out of your crafting station to make recipes that require a Demon Altar, or build your base around one.



An alternative design allows you you craft nearly every craftable item from one central location. Note: You must stand with your feet at the workbench in order to be able to craft everthing. This is one of the most compact designs possible that allows the simultaneous crafting of any item in-game excluding the Night's Edge, Worm Food, and Suspicious Eye, all of which require a Demon Altar. If you do not need to craft any of the watches or the depth meter, you can safely remove the table and chair, and simply add one more platform for the piggy bank.