Instead of buying gumpaste or fondant to make flowers, could I make some royal icing... kind of put a layer of it down on the counter, and then cut a flower out of it with a cookie cutter, let it dry, then get a spatula and gently lay it on a cake? If I did get some gumpaste, do I need to buy all those fancy tools, or can I just use my different sizes of cookie cutters? I reaallly want to know if the royal icing would work.
Hi my name is Kat, I am in the process of making a kake and my client would like me to put a photograph on it, but I do not have the frosting ink printer and can't afford to buy one. Is there anyone that knows of someone that would copy the picture on a frosting transfer sheet and I would definitely be willing to pay for it. I just don't want to take the chance of ruining their aged photo. Thanks
Rkei: With RI it is usually slightly runny when you first pipe it, and then it dries so rock hard you can't cut it without breaking it. I also use all kinds of cookie cutters and anything else to cut the shapes out of fondant.
Katzmeow88: You might be able to check with some local bakeries, Walmart, Kroger, or such to see if they will do it for you.
Rkei: With RI it is usually slightly runny when you first pipe it, and then it dries so rock hard you can't cut it without breaking it. I also use all kinds of cookie cutters and anything else to cut the shapes out of fondant.
Katzmeow88: You might be able to check with some local bakeries, Walmart, Kroger, or such to see if they will do it for you.
@Malakin: I was meaning like spread out some RI, then while it was still slightly wet (But not runny), press in my cookie cutter, then let it dry rock hard?
rkei I would say that unless you piped the royal icing directly into the cookie cutter it wont work. That stuff sets up pretty hard fast and if you tried to cut it with a cookie cutter it would just crack.
If you want to use RI, you can use a flooding technique like you would with a cookie. On a piece of waxed or parchment paper, pipe the outline with thick RI. Then flood inside the outline with thinned RI. It will take a day or two to dry, but then you can pick it up and place it on the cake. However, the buttercream could cause it to break down the RI a little.
Instead of buying gumpaste or fondant to make flowers, could I make some royal icing... kind of put a layer of it down on the counter, and then cut a flower out of it with a cookie cutter, let it dry, then get a spatula and gently lay it on a cake? If I did get some gumpaste, do I need to buy all those fancy tools, or can I just use my different sizes of cookie cutters? I reaallly want to know if the royal icing would work.
You won't be able to cut RI once it's hard. Besides, gum paste and fondant are more fun! I use cookie cutters, rubber stamps, anything that looks like it would make a cool shape or impression. I've even used the lid of a toothpick bottle to cut a unique hexagon shape. I made gum paste shotgun shells and rolled a shower curtain rod over the fondant so it would have that vertical texture that real shotgun shells have. You can use the ends of your icing tips to make smaller dots and such. Or straws...just look around! And sterilize everthing first! 
carmijok would of never thought of cutting gumpaste with tips to get small circles and such. Thanks for that idea.
Royal icing is just not going to work the way you think. It cannot be "cut" out. The suggestion to pipe a shape on waxed paper with royal icing and fill it in is your best option. Gumpaste is much easier though.
I would suggest trying both and see what works for you. A lot of this is trial and error.
It's the moisture of the frosting that will break down the RI. It's a great thing for piping, but to try to get it to cut or mold would be most difficult if not impossible. If you decide to pipe your shapes onto waxed or parchment paper, make extras as some will surely break as you are applying them.
It is the grease/fat. It's the same way you can't get even a bit of egg yolk in your whites when you're making meringues - the fat in the yolk break down the fluffed egg whites. 
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