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One of the hardest tasks for a builder in Minecraft is building a custom tree. In this post I’ll talk about some of the techniques I used to build the custom tree you see here. If you’re here for the five tips; jump to the tree tutorial section.

Deciding where to build

When I loaded in the seed and started looking around I noticed I might be on an Island and there was a second smaller Island close to spawn. This small island had appeal for 2 reasons.

Building a Custom Tree to Live In

My stater base is a custom tree that fits within one chunk. It’s largely built with oak wood with some other blocks mixed. The aesthetic was heavily influenced by a willow tree.

The starter base was done in the finished on day 120 and could have been done faster if I prioritized building over some exploring and other things. I like to jump around between builds or projects and that added some delay.

For the leaves I chose a mix of oak azalea Moss bamboo blocks for grass and glow Berry Vines. In the branches I used some mud brick walls fence posts and fence gates I also used the walls and fence posts in the trunk of the tree I stripped some of the logs to add texture and used some packed mud as texture.

Storage

Early game you can get away with dumping a bunch of stuff in chests. I’m talking the first 100 days. That method starts falling apart quickly and I was able to start my main storage on day 167.

Two double chests, two barrels and a third outside my starter base will be enough to keep things organized got me through the early days and will be sufficient with most items going in the main storage system.

The two double chests can be accessed without going into the base by flipping up a trap door.

I have a barrel left in this farm area with a bit of everything that I might collect or need for farming.

Function

Having a small farm for wheat and some other crops in the early game is helpful. I was able to fit a stone cutter, chiselled bookshelf, furnace, crafting table, anvil and a bed in this small interior.

I have found it can be helpful to have your bed further from potential mobs so that you can sleep but it hasn’t been an issue. It helps that there is a river as a barrier and not much reason to hang out on this island after dark.

Boat launch

The quickest way from spawn or the main island is by boat. I may keep this as the only path that doesn’t go through the nether. Having a dock inside the stump of the tree seemed like a cool vibe and I am able to quickly climb the ladder to the bed if arriving after dark.

I’m quite happy with the little window over the lake. This, the chimney and entry way give off the storybook vibes I was going for. I will be adding more greenery to the island and once that is done I think it’ll accentuate this feeling further.

5 Tips for your custom trees

Custom trees are probably one of the harder builds you can take on in minecraft. Most human made structures are a variation of a box or a circle. Nature is much more chaotic and random.

The shape I chose is either you’re cup of tea or not. It looks nice from some angles but unbalanced from others. I wanted something that was leaning over the river and maximized the space I had within 1 chunk.

The path does cause the build to exceed 1 chunk. 2 of the chunk corners are marked by a lantern on a brick post on a mangrove log. The farm around the tree and some other landscaping doesn’t adhere to any boundary.

Below are 5 methods I have found useful in building custom trees.

1. Glow berries add depth, texture and variation to your builds.

Glow berry vines are a great sub block variant for foliage. 2 things to consider; they don’t attached to leaf blocks, you need to shear the end of the vine if to stop growth. You can decide if you want to shear the berries or leave them for lighting.

2. Use moss as leaves.

Moss has great texture and contrast as a leaf block. Moss allows you to place grass and glow berry vines on them. I also use moss carpets either on top of fences or wood blocks placed within the canopy.

3. Fences and walls help smooth the shape of the trunk and add texture

A significant part of Minecraft’s charm is the limitation of working with 1 meter square blocks. Wherever possible the sub block options that exist add a lot to the silhouette of your builds.

I use packed mud brick walls and fence posts of what ever wood type I feel is appropriate. Wood gates can be incorporated as well. I find they work best in the canopy of the tree, but find your own groove.

4. Add texture to your trunk

I used packed mud and stripped oak. This is a very simple palette based on the blocks I had in the early game. Mixing other wood types and other blocks can be done as you advance through the game and have more blocks available.

5. Roots look like dead leaves or branches

Your brain is taking information (in this case visually) and comparing that with memories of objects that it has compiled. Roots can be interpreted as many different things depending on what other context exists.

In the canopy of a tree surrounded by branches and leaves you could interpret them as dead foliage or other small branches. Which ever it is, it works. They also bring the browns of the trunk into the canopy and bring colour balance.

Build Stats

Number of Minecraft Days: 115

Numbers of Days IRL: 17

Number of Hours: 9 hours 45 minutes.

Looking at my journal these stats included some exploration time. Tidying up stray blocks for screenshots and terraforming the river bank.

Below are the materials I used in the build.I don’t have the exact quantities but none of these were used in huge amounts. These are the blocks used in the tree and the ground around the trunk. I didn’t include the blocks used in the path or the farm.

This build was a 1 chunk build, if you’d like to see more 1 chunk builds click here.