I had a good night sleep, kids sleeping well and I decide to get up and try my hand at the practice boards. I made the stiffer buttercream because that is what the recipe in the Wilton Course 1 said to do. All my attempts at the board have been failures....icing just cracks or falls over 
How am I supposed to practice and get as good as you all if my icing won't even cooperate! Sniff....So now I add a little bit of water to thin it and now it doesn't keep shape 
!! Just how thick should my icing be to do borders, shells, rosettes and anything like that??? Consistency of what??? Mashed potatoes? coolwhip?? Pound cake batter? TIA 
Which technique are you trying to do with the stiff icing? The book outlines which consistencies to use for which techniques. Those directions are on the last page of the previous lesson.
I only use stiff icing to do dams and to pipe flowers. Everything else is thin or medium consistency.
Theresa
If you only made one batch, do about a teaspoon at a time. It should take a couple to get it to medium. Medium is still thick, but little peaks will be softer when you pull a spoon out. It's like mashed potatoes-NOT whipped thin potatoes, but mashed thicker ones. Just play with it a little and do what works best for you. If it's too thin, put some more powdered sugar in. You are just practicing, and that is the first difficult thing to practice-making the right consistency.
Start with the amount recommended in the recipe, which is 2 tablespoons of water. Then, for 1 cup medium consistency, you would normally use 1 teaspoon of water, for thin, 2 teaspoons of water.
Now, there are other factors that you may not be taking into consideration. If the weather is humid or rainy outside, you would use slightly less water, say 1/2 to 1 teaspoon per full batch.
If you have hot hands, you have to use less water, or the icing will melt as you are piping it. If this is the case, make smaller bags and switch off. Put them in the refrigerator, if necessary, to bring them back to proper consistency - 5 minutes maximum.
Are you using regular shortening, or pre-creamed? If you are using pre-creamed, that will present a problem, also, as the icing will take on the consistency of overbeaten icing.
Here's a link to the Wilton website, where techniques are taught. Each technique gives the information on which consistency to use.
http://www.wilton.com/decorating/basic/index.cfm
If your icing cracks as you pipe it, it normally means that it is too thick for the tip or technique you are trying. Consult the links to see which you need to use.
Theresa
if you want to practice..you can fill your piping bag with CRISCO! that's right...crisco...
Pipe away, and when you're done...you can use for something else!
That should be the actual "consistency" of your piping buttercream....so if you get used to the feel of the crisco..when you put your icing into the bags...you already have a "feel" for it..
When making the class buttercream icing, I generally have to add about an extra tablespoon of water to each recipe as all the powdered sugar I can find has constarch (thickening agent) in it. The first time I tried without adding extra water, it was totally brutal! Check the ingredients of your powdered sugar to make sure that it doesn't have cornstarch!
HTH
wgoat5 - A rule of thumb for flowers. If the petals need to stand up, like the rose, then use stiff consistency icing. Which is the original batch of frosting before you add water. If it's too stiff or tearing when you pipe it, piping gel works wonders to thin it enough to be smooth but not "thin". Flatter flowers, like drop flowers and sweet peas can be piped in medium.
The crisco tip for practice is fantastic but here are what we were told to look for in class. Stiff, when you poke it gently with your finger will not stick to your skin. Medium is firm but will come off on your finger when your touch it, like toothpaste. Thin is the consistency of gel toothpaste. You touch it lightly and you get no resistence and your finger is covered in frosting.
Hope this helps
Crisco is a great idea! Wish I knew that a while ago since I wasted a ton of frosting! I always end up with icing on my hands, that would make a great moisturizer while you work!
Not to mention a great deterent (sp?) to licking the frosting off your fingers!!! 
~Chelle
Wow! Crisco is a great idea. I don't practice nearly enough because I don't want to go to the work of making more frosting (and all that powdered sugar gets expensive!). Oh, and I do use the medium for the roses too. It works for me but not everyone. Some people use half stiff and half medium and others stiff. For me, the stiff made the petals too jagged on the edges.
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