I want to do some mums for a cake this coming week. I have a hard time piping flowers in general and infinite problems with the Wilton method. I don't have the tip 81 that the Wilton book suggests. I'm hoping someone could help with some other tips or instructions. Also, if you have any suggestions on arranging flowers too I would appreciate it. I want it to look nice not just like I plopped them on the cake. Thanks!
Well, I don't know if this will help but here it goes, tip 81 is a simi circle and gives the petals a slight curve. If you ask me, mums are similar to daisies, but with more petals. You might try a tip 101 and make daisy petals then move up a row and make the petals a little shorter and keep doing this until you have enough petals
Odd numbers always look best. If you are planning on using a lot of flowers you will want to mound your icing. This will give your flowers a bouquet effect. I always add a few leaves so my flowers aren't "floating". If you are making a sheet cake, vines and greenery look nice and fill empty space. Just start simple and keep adding until you feel happy about what you have done. That always works for me.
Good luck
I used tip 81 to make mine so I can't help there but I can tell you that the Wilton method didn't work for me. I ended up mounding my icing (using tip 81 too) on a flower nail and then I inserted the tip into the mound and pulled out...starting at the bottom and working upward. I made the flowers on top of squares of waxed paper attached to the flower nail. Then I removed them to a flat cutting board and stuck that in the freezer before trying to put them on the cake. Worked great 
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