For all the things I want to do on a cake I'm fairly competant. No expert by any means, but I have fun. My roses, however, are the worst! I just can't make a good one no matter how hard I try. Kudos to all of you who make such pretty roses. I'm so jealous.
If someone out there ever had trouble learning roses and got good at it, let me know if there was an "aha" moment where you found what finally worked, because I am a total ditz at this. 
Jill
I can feel your pain...mine always look like cabbages 
I've tried so many times to get that perfect Wilton rose and fail miserably every time...but I keep hoping 
Just what don't you like? Do they have torn/ragged edges? Do they look flat like they are melting? Take a pic so we can help better.
Generally, you need icing that is stiff; the back of your bag should point over your shoulder at all times; work on the side of your mound, not pointing to it - this will be normal if you make sure the back of the bag is pointing over your shoulder. HTH
If I ever have to do a cabbage patch...I'll be ready
I was practicing again today, but my two year old ate them while I wasn't looking and then threw up on the carpet. So I will discribe them instead.
The petals stand up alright, so I think my icing is stiff enough. The problem is when I put the petals on, they are straight up and almost flat against the mound. If I try to tip the bag to get them to stick out from the mound, they turn out all wavy.
After the kid is in bed, I'll make some for a photo opp.
Okay, I'm being a little dumb tonight. There's a picture in my collection of a stacked heart cake with my lousy roses. I haven't improved much since that first attempt, so maybe someone can see the problem I can't figure out. Other than my wiggly roses, it's a cute cake. I want to try making it again after I get more mad skills.
Try making them out of fondant.
You won't believe how easy that is.
Roses are hard. I was so intimidated when I began my first Wilton class. I was sure that I would fail it because I couldn't seem to manage a rose. My instructor showed me how to do it, and for the life of me, I couldn't use her technique. (Still can't). When I finally managed to make a decent rose, she let it pass, despite the fact that I was spinning the nail backward from how she showed us.
Little by little, I came to LOVE roses. Seriously. I don't do a perfect Wilton rose but I enjoy them because each one has it's own personality. 
Here is my Everything's Coming Up Roses cupcakes: http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_722103.html There are other rose pics in my gallery.
Your work is really pretty. Hang in there. I took a quick look at your stacked heart cake (beautiful) and although it wasn't a close detail of the flowers, I have a few suggestions that might be of help. When you make your roses, visualize making the shape of a horseshoe with the buttercream. When making a petal, begin at the base, let the icing fan out in an arc and then pull it back down, overlapping slightly the other petals.
Don't be afraid to taper down at the bottom of your rose either. It looked as if with each successive layer of petals that your base was getting wider and wider and wider (creating the 'cabbage' effect). Anyhow, this probably confused you more than helped. Chin up, dear. You're doing a great job!
My roses need attention too. Youtube does have a few demonstrations, but I need one on one help. Someone to look over my shoulder and say, "For crying out loud Esther, that's why you can't make a decent rose! Move over and I'll show you how it's done."
I've never taken classes, and curse roses up and down ... but I learned a wonderful technique here. It's called the Hershey Kiss method. You attach a kiss to your nail with icing ... then instead of building your petals on the icing ball, which I always find too unstable, you have a wonderful base. My edges are still kinda crappy, but I tell you ... it makes roses almost a pleasure to make. I'll never do anything BUT the Hershey Method ... highly recommend it.
There are pictures of my roses in my photos. I hope this helps, it has been the difference between swearing a blue streak and crying ... and actually turning out a decent rose! Good luck!!
That is my biggest sore spot too. I dont know if it is the consistency of my frosting, or my lack of technique but I cant make a rose out of frosting to save my life. I can however make them out of fondant and i love to do them. So now if in need I just make fondant roses.
Good luck.
I love this thread and I am so glad that I'm not the only person who SUCKS at making roses. I tell all of my clients to go ahead and ask me to build anything, BUT DO NOT ask me to make a cake with roses on it!! I loathe them!!!! I have even stooped to buying them from my instructor. Thanks for making me feel a little better about them (LOL).
i had the same problem when i first started doing roses. but i learned that u cant always go by the book. my suggestion is to use thinner icing. once i decided not to use thick icing, my roses came out pretty perfect. i mean it still takes practice, but thats what helped me. u can see my pics and my divorce cake was the second cake i did with buttercream roses. they are all pretty uniform thanks to thin icing! good luck!
This is a thread that has pics on how to make fondant roses.
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-482163-.html
HTH!
from the pic you directed me to I see you are making your petals *much* too long. They should be short upside down 'u's. Turn your nail while piping. The hand w/the bag *NEVER* moves. Glue your forarm to your 'boob' All the work is done w/your other hand except for squeezing the bag.
Also your mound might not be tall enough. I know some people use a Hersey's kiss as the mound, but some customers won't want choco so learn to make your mound the same size & shape as the kiss. When I was teaching I would give my students a kiss (Hershey's choco) to keep in front of them to compare to Your 1st row of 3 petals should be at the top of the mound; each secceding row aboutg 1/4" below that one.
I just looked at your first roses and I see one problem right away. You are making to long a stroke. i had this problem also. You need to do short up and down strokes as you turn the nail. its 1 ,3 5, 7 petals around so don't squeeze so long squeeze gently lift up bring the icing down and attach petal. Just remember the angle. HTH
I recently attended a Course 1 training seminar for WMI's where we worked on the rose a LOT! (I needed it.)
As the trainer was making each petal (from the back to the front on the cone), she literally dug into the side of the cone as she came back down on the horseshoe shape. She very briefly paused and cleaned the side of the tip after each petal. Digging into the cone kept the petals from getting too wide and spreading out.
If you go here...there is a video that may help
http://www.wilton.com/decorating/basic/roses.cfm
Often I have edges that have that torn/ragged edge, what is the cause of that?
Love the hershey kiss idea, will definitely try that one.....or at least eat the kisses if it fails 
hershey kiss is good one! i call it the blob! use 3,5, 7. as you make your 3 petals keep your tip straight up, when you make your 5 petals, slightly turn you tip out and when you make your 7 petals, slightly turn it some more. don't draw it, let your oppsite hand do the decorating! let us know how is turns out
Instead of using a nail, I've been taught (not in my Wilton classes, but elsewhere) to use a plain stick. If you can find them sharpened, that works as well, but a plain lolipop stick works just fine, too. Similar to the Hershey's Kiss method, you don't need to make a base, you just start with the small center "bud" part right on the top of the stick, then continue on making petals as usual (just be careful to make sure your petals don't travel down the stick....). Also, if you are less strict with yourself about the 3, 5, 7 pattern, you can still make beautiful, full roses. Making small petals and going slowly helps a lot. So does making sure your icing isn't too warm: warm icing is just as hard to work with as icing that is not stiff enough. Make a few roses, put the icing in the fridge for a few minutes, then get it back out.
I know this doesn't help much as far as petals go, but it does give you a lot more stable "base" to work with.
Up until now, my roses were terrible, but this method is honestly about a thousand times easier than trying to make a base that was tall enough and stable, plus you don't have the nail head getting in the way of angling the tip for the bottom petals.
Hope that helps!
Don't laugh...the corn sticks rom KFC are perfect for the stick method.
If I use BC based with crisco my frosting doesn't stick. If I use high ratio they are decent.
stampinron,
Torn or ragged petal edges is the icing's way of telling you that it's just a tad too stiff.
I actually like the cone to be made from icing that is 'too stiff' (stiff enough that you can mold the top of it into a point with your fingers). That helps the cone be sturdy enough to support the petals.
This one should be covered in a Course 1 class but I'll post it just in case: Another trick is to draw the circle in the middle of your flower nail. Take a dime and a fine point Sharpie pen. Place the dime in the middle of the flower nail and draw a tight circle around dime with the Sharpie. When you are making your base, the widest part of the base should be just inside that circle. (When you look down at the cone and flower nail, you should still be able to see the circle.)
I'm saving this entire thread as my own personal tutorial. I'll try all the techniques. Thanks girls.
Esther
stampinron,
Torn or ragged petal edges is the icing's way of telling you that it's just a tad too stiff.
I actually like the cone to be made from icing that is 'too stiff' (stiff enough that you can mold the top of it into a point with your fingers). That helps the cone be sturdy enough to support the petals.
This one should be covered in a Course 1 class but I'll post it just in case: Another trick is to draw the circle in the middle of your flower nail. Take a dime and a fine point Sharpie pen. Place the dime in the middle of the flower nail and draw a tight circle around dime with the Sharpie. When you are making your base, the widest part of the base should be just inside that circle. (When you look down at the cone and flower nail, you should still be able to see the circle.)
Thank you for this input. I'll try to soften my BC next time. One question though, I was taught to use a quarter to make a circle on my nail (Wilton). Do you think this matters? I use tip 104 to make the petals on this...
Update:
I took your suggestions and it helped immeasurably! I made roses tonight for practice and they came out great!!!
Thanks for all your help - I couldn't have gotten the technique down with all my reading. It was so neat to have everyone responding in real words and unscientific explanations. I'll have to make a cake with roses now!
Jill
She very briefly paused and cleaned the side of the tip after each petal. Digging into the cone kept the petals from getting too wide and spreading out.
I do exactly the same thing. In fact, the hardest habit I've had to break is one I got into when I was just making cakes for my own family...licking the tube after each petal was formed to clean it off. 
Now I keep a damp paper towel next to me to swipe the tip after every petal.
I think the biggest mistakes people make when starting out making roses is to not make the base large enough at the bottom (big, fat and rounded!!), and not making a sharp upside down U movement with each petal.
I love making buttercream roses, but it took me years before I was really satisfied with them.
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