What do you do with the royal icing that starts melting in your bag because your hands are too warm????

You can set it aside, let it cool, then re-whip it.

To help prevent that, use smaller amounts in larger bags, so you have room to hold the bag and not the frosting. Fill more than one, and switch back and forth to avoid the heat.

If you hands get really hot, hold them under cool water for a couple of minutes.

i wouldn't think that royal would melt because of the heat of your hands, my guess would be that the icing needs to be beat longer and/or that you may have had some grease in the bag and/or tip that is causing the brakedown.

Royal icing certainly shouldn't melt with heat. It actually needs heat to dry it out. Can you clarify exactly what is happening

It doesn't actually melt, it just gets "runnier" as I pipe it out.

I'm not sure what is causing this. I do a lot of work with royal icing and it's certainly never happened to me (although I have had problems with buttercream doing this). If it did I think I would use smaller bags and just fill with a small amount of icing each time

Someone on another thread said that their royal icing was spreding after they piped the letters on a cake and it was suggested that they might have grease on the decorator tips. They suggested soaking the tips in vinegar. Hope it helps! Good Luck, Gail

Here is the link to the other thread:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-15337.html

This may not be an answer, but I had problems with that happening when I started and my instructor asked what my recipe was. In the process of telling her, she wondered if it was the type of powdered sugar I was using, generic brand made with beets. I switched and haven't had the problem since. I just didn't want to pay the extra during class because it was, after all, just for practice!
Some may disagree with me, and that's okay, but it may play a part of your problem. ??

It does sound as if there might have been some grease someplace. What icing bags were you using? For the royal, I use the disposable or parchment papers that way I know there is no grease residue anyplace.

What is the humidity like in your area? Is you royal icing stiff to begin with? Are you measuring your quantities correctly? Is there grease on any of you utensils? Also, if your mixing bowl is plastic, switch it out for a glass bowl.