I have no problems with getting the tiaras made, but how do you get them onto the cake without a million pieces!

I just finished a cake and went through 5 tiaras...the last one had one minor break that was an easy fix.

I thought I read somewhere if you add glycerin, the royal icing doesn't dry as hard.

So what am I missing????

I made a tiara following the instruction in an article posted here on cake central. This one is a layered tiara and I let it dry for days before I took it off the mold I used. I didn't have to add anything to the royal icing. Do a search in the articles section for the tiara article. Hope it helps.

I ended up making mine out of gumpaste since I heard it was more stable (plus my pipping skills are not that great). It was very strong and very stable, easy to hold and handle. Roll out snakes of gumpaste, lay them against the template as you would a Royal Icing one and use gumpaste glue (gumpaste dissolved with a little water) to attach each piece. I brushed the joints with an extra coating of gumpaste glue once it was all assembled. Let it sit for a day or 2 to dry, then paint it with silver, pearl or shimmer dust, slide it off the mold, and place over the cake.

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1499535&sub=1499539