How To Use Minecraft Heads to Add Detail to Your Minecraft Builds!

Sometimes when you finish an important build for your server, you’ll take a step back and think, “I just feel like it needs a little more detail, but how!?” worry not, my ambitious builder friend, for I have the answers you seek! It’s no secret that adding mob heads to a build can push it over the edge. From a skeleton skull on an otherwise empty shelf to a backwards facing Creeper head on a fencepost to act as a bonsai tree! Did you know there's a universe of custom heads designed by players like you? These are blocks the size of a player head, that can take the form of almost anything you can imagine. A loaf of bread on the dinner table, a sack of coal by a mining site, wooden beams that strut out the walls of your home, the possibilities are endless, and getting started is likely, much easier than you think!

There are two main ways to get custom heads into your Minecraft world or server, the first way will require you to have the ability to run commands in chat. To get a specific player’s head, including your own, simply run this command:

/give @p minecraft:player_head{SkullOwner:USERNAME} 1

Replace ‘USERNAME’ with the name of the player whose head you want to copy, and if you want more than one of that player’s head, change the ‘1’ at the end to any number you like, easy right? You could use these player heads for anything your heart desires, or you could place your friend’s heads above their rooms like this;

Now onto the fun part! To get the more interesting custom heads, you can go to minecraft-heads.com. There, you'll find a database of over 45,000 custom heads! Browse the list on the website, or use their search feature to find the exact head you want to use in your build, Once you’ve found the head you want, the site will give you exactly what commands you need to run to get it in your version of the game, exactly like the player heads from before, Simply copy the command, and run it in chat. Using these custom heads can render some impressive results, below are some examples I've come up with to spark your imagination;

Use heads that resemble coal ore, barrels, and pouches, to add life to veins of ore around your base.

Use heads that resemble hay bales to add dynamism to a farm or town’s stockpile. Use heads with different orientations for extra points!

Decorate townsfolk’s buildings, like refined and unrefined ore for the blacksmith.

Populate the shelves of your vendors with folded shirts and hats!

Custom heads are a quick and easy way to add variety and intrigue to any building. Note the piles of junk on the merchant’s floor, and the odds and ends he has for sale on the shelf above.

The second (and much more convenient) way to access these heads is to download the Head Database plugin by Arcaniax into your server. It costs $10, but with it, you can skip visiting the website, and typing in those pesky commands, and instead enjoy an in-game menu that grants you access to every head listed on the site with one single command! After installing the plugin from SpigotMC and restarting your server, simply type this command in chat:

/hdb

This menu will open, and from it, you can browse heads based on the provided categories, or click the compass to search for a specific head!

Hopefully, now you realize the power custom heads can have on increasing the quality and level of detail on your builds. There are countless other uses for these heads that I just didn’t cover in this article, but part of the fun is finding them out for yourself! Browse the internet for fellow builders and server admins for inspiration, or come up with something entirely new. Custom heads open a whole new dimension of customizability to your server and when used right, can make it stand out from the rest. Now that you know how to use the commands and plugin, go forth, and make something awesome with them!