Crafting Basics
The crafting aspect is slightly different across different versions of Terraria. To access the crafting menu, press the Inventory key while in-game. This will bring up the heads-up display, showing 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. On the 
Mobile version, press the button with 3 dots on it to access your full inventory, and on 
Console, press △ or Ⓨ. From there, you may switch tabs to access the crafting interface.
The crafting area on Console.
The crafting area on 
PC, outlined in red.
The crafting area on Mobile.
Desktop Version
The items that can be currently crafted will appear in this menu. Your crafting options are determined by the items you have in your inventory, as well as your proximity to various Crafting Stations. Next to a selected item's icon in the list is where its Crafting Recipe appears. To navigate this menu, you can click or use the mouse wheel to scroll through items. You can also see all craftable items at once by clicking the hammer icon below the word "Crafting". To select an item (as depicted by a yellow border), simply click on it, and to craft it, click it again. The newly crafted item will attach itself to your cursor, and from there it can be placed in your inventory or dropped by clicking outside of your inventory space. Large numbers of stackable items can be made by right-clicking and holding the icon, and quickly creates and stacks that item until the stack is full, you run out of materials, or simply let go. To exit your inventory, press the Inventory key again.
You can occasionally craft an item of exceptional, terrible, or slightly different quality, possessing a good or bad Modifier. This has a 75% chance of happening upon crafting an item, as well as various other reasons. There is no way to predict what modifier you will get on an item, and many items cannot get modifiers at all. However, many items can be Reforged to gain different modifiers. Mainly, the only items that can get modifiers are tools, weapons, armor, and accessories.
Crafting Stations
This picture shows distance things can be crafted from. In this picture, the Work Bench, Tinkerer's Workshop, and Sawmill can all be used from the spot the character is on. The Anvil, Keg, and Forge are out of range, and therefore they cannot be used.
Many recipes require that you have a crafting station in order to craft them. The first crafting station available is the Workbench, which can be crafted without any crafting station. In order to use any crafting station, they must be placed in the world, and you must be close enough to it (see image); items you can craft using the station will then be added to the list of items you can currently craft. It's possible to stand near many crafting stations simultaneously in order to reap the benefits from all of them. Additionally, some items, such as the Copper Watch or Waterfall Blocks require that you stand next to multiple different crafting stations in order to craft them.
Multi-Crafting Areas
A highly compact crafting station used to craft most items available pre-Hardmode. Some stations such as the Dye Vat and Cooking Pot are excluded.
A compact, ultra-comprehensive above-ground crafting station that is capable of crafting almost any craftable item in 1.3. The only missing station is the Demon Altar/Crimson Altar as they cannot be moved. It also includes the Piggy Bank and the Safe for storage.
- FullCraftingStation.png
The above is an example of a crafting area, using the Demon Altar/Crimson Altar's location to your advantage. This crafting room has been placed underground, and works, though incomplete.
A very efficient pre-Hardmode crafting area (as of v1.3.2.1) with every station needed to progress to Hardmode (including a table for making a Watch). Simply stand on the Work Bench to access all surrounding crafting stations and chests.
A pre-Hardmode, post-Dungeon upgrade from the previous crafting area once the player has an Alchemy Table. Crimstone Blocks are used to surround the single tile of water to prevent losing the water from accidental hits with a strong Pickaxe. Also note the wooden platform at the top of the water - this allows the extra chest to be placed.
Notes
- Template:Pc icon Template:Console icon Many players may find it useful to use the Guide's help, as he shows not only the recipes an item is used in, but what crafting stations are needed to craft those items.
- On the Mobile version and Nintendo
version, you can scroll through all recipes previously discovered, no matter if you have the materials or not. This can really help the player, however they will have to scroll for a while late-game. - If you keep any potion ingredients in one area, it can be useful to place a Bottle or Alchemy Table nearby for quick crafting. The same can go with dyes.
- To make a full, complete crafting area, you must include all crafting stations. This includes either a Demon or Crimson Altar (included in one of the crafting areas shown above), and even a Campfire to craft a Marshmallow on a Stick. If you do not want to build a whole crafting area near an altar, it can be very useful to build it somewhere else and provide a way to get to an altar quickly. Teleporters are good for this.
- Template:Mobile iconTemplate:3DS icon The player is required to be on the same level as crafting stations in order to use them, and can't craft using items from a chest (they must be in your inventory)
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