Ok, so I tried my first RI tiara, which was a huge mess! I just want to know if there are any tips to making it work.
Heres what I did,
Used a template over a can, piped twice with a Wilton tip #5. Then went back and piped beads over the two layers I already did.
I think my first mistake was a let it sit for about 5 hours, I don't think that was long enough in hindsight.
It made it off the can with a little bit of fixable damage. Then I painted it with silver highlighter (mixed with vodka) and it turned to mush and fell apart.
So, how long do you usually let it dry and how do you paint it without it melting?

dry dusting it?

Yes..You need it to dry overnight...sometimes days depending on your weather.Dry dusting works but doesn't always give you the silver shine that painting with lustre dust does.Make sure the mixture isn't so watery...this causes the royal to get wet and turn to mush...rather make the mixture kinda wet but thick.Paint quickly and then leave it to dry for an hour or two.Repeat again as often you will have streaks where the lustre didn't fully cover.Drying in between coats is key!!Try it again...it will work!!

Hmm, I haven't tried one of these yet. Good to know. Thanks.

i made a royal icing tiara and it sat for two days before i took it off the can. when you paint it, just make sure you do it quickly...the icing start to melt if you don't.

Thanks for the tips, I will definitely try it again!

I have to share my RI tiara disaster from a couple weeks ago. I made one, painted it, and it looked super. I got it off the can, fixed a couple spots, and put it in a tupperware bowl out of the reach of my boys (1 and 4). They left to go to grandmas for the weekend, I took it down, and as I did I dropped the bowl and shattered it into a lot of pieces. Attempt number 2 went the same way until I went to take it off the mold with only 3 hours sleep behind me. It cracked in half while DH was helping me and crashed to the floor into a hundred million tiny pieces. As I burst into sleep deprived tears, my 1 year old comes in, looks at me, grabs a piece, shoves it in his mouth, and runs away. DH is telling me that it will be OK. He's going to go to the dollar store and get a replacement tiara, no biggy. All of the sudden, anger replaced my tears and I jumped up and down on top of the million pieces and made them dust on my kitchen floor. I felt better. DH just put his head down, got the broom and dustpan, and cleaned it up. What a good man. I will conquer the tiara!!!

man, I don't have patience for royal tiaras....I do all of mine in chocolate......pipe a layer, freeze, pip a layer, freeze, pipe another layer, repeat.....nice and fast....and sturdy.........uh..unless it's hot out! lol

Yep... I'm afraid you didn't let it dry long enough. Give it at LEAST 24 hours. This is a very humid time of year in most places, so it may take longer.

I mix my dust with Everclear (grain alcohol) which evaporates even faster than vodka. I load up my brush pretty well so I can get into all the nooks and crannies. I've never had a tiara disintegrate while painting it.

Whenever I do anything with RI, I have learned to make 2 or 3 extras at the same time. My husband is a bull in a china shop and I have two preschoolers here at the house. Nothing ever lasts.

I was getting ready for my first cake event and I had made this huge gorgeous dome out of RI and my husband decided to palm it like a basketball. It crashed on the floor in a million pieces... You think he would have learned the first time but then he did the exact same thing again.... agh....

I hope you finally conquer that tiar! You can do it!

I agree with KHalstead, I use chocolate. It is super fast and you can fix it in a hurry if it breaks on you. I use luster dust (dry) and it looks wonderful. HTH

If you have one, I like airbrushing better - less moist so less likely to disintegrate.

I did just buy an airbrush but still need a compressor, I can't wait to start using it.
I am pretty good at chocolate transfers so maybe I will try chocolate next time. Is there anyway to add silver to chocolate after it's done? Or possible to add any shimmer at all?