How To: Build a Sexy Floating Island

Hey guys, I was building my floating island earlier today (and having a quick look at the competition) and I came up with a couple of hints and tips that will really improve your islands.

Step 1: Top

Ok, imagine you are making and island in the middle of the sea. Would it be completely flat? NO! Too often I see floating islands with great bases, but flat tops. Here are a few photographs of my build to show you how I dealt with the prospect of having a flat top. :D

Above: Here I have a simple mine entrance surrounded by a small hill, so break up the plain grassland.
Below: Here you can see I have done the same for some of my other islands.

Step 2: DETAAAIILL...!!!!!

Every single floating island build out there has a stone base (apart from the sand and nether islands). To make your build stand out, include a couple of ores! As seen below:

Note that my base isn't covered in ores, just has the odd iron, coal and diamond or dotted around. Using too many makes the island look unrealistic. STEP 3!

Step 3: Utilize the WHOLE Island!

Ok, building on the top is fine for most things, but everyone else does that! (And besides, you have have to set your island apart from everyone else's) You have to "dig a bit deeper" and create mines, caves, basements, etc.

Step 4: Make Your Islands Interact with the Ground

Just because your islands are floating, it doesn't mean they can't be used together. Here are a few examples from my build to illustrate what I mean:

As you can see, my stream from my floating island falls through a small hole in the base and joins a stream I created to finally run into the lake below.

Thanks for reading :D I hope I had a few good tips for future floating builds, and some of these tips can be used with other floating builds too! :)