I am in lesson 2 of course 2 for Wilton and I just learned how to make the royal icing So I was just wandering If it is better to make roses out of BC or Royal Icing. I tried to do one out of Royal Icing tonight but it seemed like it all fell together. Doesn't the Royal Icing last longer than the BC?
Here is a ?? for you? How did you claen your tips?? I had this problem. If there is the slightest amount of grease in your tips from BC they will melt. Did you wash them in hot soapy water or dishwasher? I don't have a dishwasher. SO I soak my tips in my bowl with a half vinager and water combo after I have washed in hot soapy water. I had a BAD melting problem until I did this. But I prefer BC roses for taste. I don't like crunchy things on my cakes. But that is me. But they hold there shape in royal. I hope this helps.
I agree about the grease, and to avoid any other contamination problems, I only ever use disposable/parchment bags when working with royal icing. I use an all-butter buttercream which I think washes off better than crisco buttercream, but I still wash my tips in neat dish liquid (using a tip brush), and then rinse well with very hot water. Hope that helps a bit!
I boil my tips before throwing them in the dishwasher.
It also sounds like maybe your royal was not whipped enough. You know it's ready when it's not shiny anymore. I use my KA and I just let it whip for at least 10 minutes. I'm dealing with high humidity though.
I too have had lots of problems with RI. Part of the problem was using the same bag as I had used for buttercream. This will break down the RI. Also, I have to keep re-beating the RI while I am working with it. Never on high as that will incorporate too much air, but on medium for a minute or so. When you make the RI, it takes a minimum of 7 minutes of beating...I usually beat it 10 minutes. The last thing is that I tend to have "hot hands". I know that this is only supposed to make a difference when using buttercream, but it is also true of RI as it gets too warm. I put my bag in the freezer for a few minutes to cool it back off after using it for a while. This has been the only way I can get roses that look decent out of RI! Just my experience...hope this helps.
I have tips that I keep in a separate case that are only used for royal icing ... I use to do the cleaning thing (soaking in vinegar/hot soapy water) and that works, but if one speck of grease touches the RI, it melts away ... so to make sure I don't have that frustration, I just keep a box of extra tips that I slowly accumulated over time and reserve their use only for RI ... never have had it to fail since then 
Thanks for all the great tips, I think I am going to try boil the tips before I put them in the dishwasher and try it again. I guess I didn't realize that the grease was probably breaking it down. Thanks again
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