Crafting

Crafting is an in-game mechanic that allows players to craft or make items. This is done by selecting an item to be crafted in one of the 12  crafting tabs (13 for Wickerbottom as she gets an extra crafting tab; Books). Provided the player has sufficient materials in their inventory and, if necessary, has unlocked the item recipe, they will receive 1 or more of the crafted item.

Trivia

 * Prior to the Hungry for your Hunger update, the Shadow Manipulator was capable of replacing both the Science Machine and the Alchemy Engine, allowing the player to destroy the lower tier prototyping machines as they upgraded. The new game model created 2 separate avenues of Crafting where the Alchemy Engine can prototype all of the Science Machine recipes, and the Shadow Manipulator can prototype all of the recipes that the Prestihatitator can. Magic and Science are the different routes. The magic crafting devices can no longer prototype any of the science recipes, meaning the player will need to have at least 2 prototyping machines on hand until all the recipes are unlocked.