HI all!
I just did a cake to practise my roses and shell border and was wondering if I could get a few helpful pointers on how I can improve on both of them.
I couldn't upload the picture here but it is in my photos....sorry about that! It's the blue cake with the shell border and the roses in the center.
Thank you!! 
You are off to a good start. But from what I Can see it seems to me that you are holding The bag in one position. You need to change the angle of the tip with each sucessive row of petals. That will give The rose a fuller appearance and make it look More realistic. But good job so far.
The only thing I can say is keep doing them until you are blue in the face! After I make about 10 in a row, they finally start to look good!!! At first I had to look at that Wilton diagram of what "hour" to have each row at and concentrate A LOT! It's getting a little easier...
I think they look pretty good! If you want to try this you may be happier with them. Overlap the petals a little more, do as Cake_ Princess said and bring the narrow end of your rose tip out a little more after the first row of petals to make it look fuller. You may be able to get by with one less row of petals when doing this. You are doing great though. I would be proud of them! Good Luck! Linda
Gibson,
First, let me say what a nice job you are doing. I would normally have looked at your cake and just thought nice job. Since you asked for help and feedback, I looked super close. I still really couldn't find much wrong. Here's my thoughts though ...
* As mentioned, your petals are all a bit too straight (although it works for how you have them placed on the cake)
* You need more of a tail on your shells. They are too close together and need to be a bit more spaced apart.
* Lastly, I was taught to make the first petal on the rose basically closed-up. Yours all have a "hole" in the top. So try doing some closed to see if you like that better.
I had to look for almost 5 minutes to find anything to comment on. Really nice job.
I once heard someone say that they shouldn't complain about making roses until they had made 100. And by the time they had made 100, their roses would be perfect and they would have no reason to complain!
Good luck!
Thanks so much CakesbyEllen!!
Your advice is greatly appreciated and I will try to make a few of the centers closed more. I'm having a difficult time with that shell border and I don't know why but practice, practice, practice!!!!
Maybe I'll start on those 100 roses.......lol
Thanks again all of this advice is so helpful!
There is a very nice video on Wilton.com of how to make shells. Look under techniques and then click on "Shells". It looks like your not lifting the tip and letting the icing fan out before you start to pull back and reduce pressure. As for the roses. They look very good. If you can imagine a clock - when you pipe the wrap around the base - the back of your bag should be pointing at 1 o'clock. For the 1st row of 3 petals - 2:00. For the 2nd row of 5 petals - 4:00. and the last row of 7 petals - 5:00 and the tip needs to be tilted slightly to allow the petals to lay flatter. These times are for right handed people. Reverse if your a lefty. That is the key to opening up your roses. Hope this helps.
Gibson,
I think your roses are beautiful. As mentioned in a previous post, you really have to look closely to find ANYTHING to critique. The only thing I really noticed was the opening in the first petal, and that's probably because my wilton instructor really harped on that!
You are really doing a great job though! Keep it up! 
As for what I think, the roses are beautiful! I seen alot of roses on cakes at the picture gallery and have to say that alot of the roses are different with each member. Of course, practice makes perfect! I have about 40 roses left to make the 100 mark of roses. LOL!
Great cake! I have to agree I had to look for a bit on what could be improved on 
I agree with the others on the rose, move the top of your tip out as you do each row of petals.
For the shells. For something that is suppose to be standard and so "simple" I just couldn't figure out the shell border for the longest time-i could do a reverse shell but I couldn't figure out the shell border-makes no sense i know!
I started practicing by doing one shell at a time. Hold your bag at a 45 degree angle and squeeze to start your shell and let it build up, pull back just a short distance then release pressure completely as you pull back. Then start your next shell at the end of your last one. I concentrated on get one shell to begin with. Then added them on top of each other, and now I can do a shell border without stoping pressure after everyshell. I had to look at it one step at a time and it helped me to break down the process.
Hope someof this helps Can't wait to see the next one.
Leily
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