they always start off looking fine the first like 5 leaves i put on..but as it gets fuller they start looking so silly[/img]

Candy clay flowers and gumpaste flowers are two different things, to me. Gumpaste is stretchy and can be curled and frilled.

This is the tutorial that was most helpful to me: http://www.flickr.com/photos/franjmc/2927935625/ The link to the tutorial is partway down the page in the comments. Maybe it would be useful to you too.

I think you are being too hard on yourself. It looks like you just need to go up a size after the first two rows of real petals.

you can make gumpaste more realistic like Texas_Rose said. Candy clay is fun to work with though, but it will be a little bulkier - and yummier!

your rose is stunning, there just like mine, beautiful till the last layer, and then they looked weird and dumpy, i found a petal cutter, a tad bigger than the petals on my rose cutter, and used them, they worked much much better and my roses looked more natural, As said, choco will be thicker, but they can still be beautiful!