Tips On My Royal Icing Please.
Decorating By JaeRodriguez Updated 15 Jul 2010 , 1:34pm by JaeRodriguez
Hey all,
I tried for the first time piping with royal (first time making royal as well) I just cut the tip off of a piping bag because I didn't have a tip small enough, I drew a P onto paper and put it under the wax paper and then traced it with the icing.
My outlines are wonky, do you think it is because I didn't have a tip or just chalk it up to inexperience? I also wasn't sure if my royal was too thin but I had it thicker at first and I couldn't barely pipe it!
Thank you for any advice. oh btw can you tell it's supposed to be a "P"?
Sorry my pictures are horrible!
looks like a P to me, but to get nicer lines yes you need a tip IMHO
Thank you, I have read online that you can just use the bag but it was hard to control how it comes out of the bag! :]
A plastic squeeze bottle might work too. I found some at a local restaurant supply store. I think they were about $1 each. They look like this one here:
I got 2 tips a Wilton 1 and 2, I used the 1, and I feel like they don't look much better... I'm thinking of just making flowers out of fondant. ARG I don't want to give up.
Practice, practice, practice! I think your doing great - you're just looking super closely at them. Switching to a tip definitely helps as does using a small bag that isn't too full. You might want to even try using a half size parchment bag (cut the parchment triangle in half, then construct the bag). It can be much easier to hold and control. Whatever you do, don't get discouraged!!! And making royal icing flowers are way more forgiving than trying to pipe script letters!
Thank you Cindy! I looked at the P's I piped with the tip on now that they have dried and they do look a lot better then the original ones, so I feel much better! :]
How long in advance can I pipe with royal btw? I am piping now but the cupcakes aren't due until Saturday! Should I just save my royal and pipe closer or will the letters be ok?
As long as you've made your royal icing correctly it will last, well virtually forever. I have a bin full of leftover flowers that I've made that I keep in case I want to make a last minute cake for my family. Once they've dried, put them in an airtight container that has never seen anything containing shortening. I like to store mine in new gladware (or similar) that way I can ensure my royal icing won't break down. I also suggest keeping the container in the pantry/cupboard to avoid fading.
Well I let them dry for 24hrs and tried to get them off the wax paper and they all broke! Most around the curly parts of the P. I am not sure if I made the royal wrong. They were kinda crumbly after they broke...
Leave them on the paper for a couple of days, it may look dry but the inside is probalby a bit wet.
When you peel them off, slide the wax paper off the edge of the counter or board, allowing it to fall away from the letter (slowly), trying to peel them off like a sticker almost gurantees breakage.
Check Youtube for a tutorial if you have never done this before, it is simple but tough to explain.
The delicate curls in your letters are going to be very fragile, RI is very brittle when dry.
Keep practicing and make several more than you need JIC.
BTW, your letters look great.
Thank you Herekittykitty! Unfortunately I threw them away because I tried to get all of them off and they broke. I will pipe again and leave them there for a couple of days and see what happens! I will make some fondant flowers for back up as well I guess!
Thanks for the tip, I will definitely look on youtube. I forgot about looking for videos!
Well, my hubby came home and started piping them last night, and his looked better than mine did! 
Go figure. I started making these flowers as backup because I wanted something to go on the cupcake as it is a yellow cake with white icing! They are free btw so I didn't want to kill myself piping P's and trying to peel them off of the paper! (Which btw, we haven't been able to peel ANY off!) I looked on Youtube and I have tried every way I've seen on there. I will let the ones we piped last night sit out a couple more days and see if they will dry better and then maybe we will be able to get them off! We will see! Thank you for all your help ladies!
You can tell by looking at the bottoms of them (while still on the paper) if they are dry, they no longer look wet. I made butterflies and it took 3-4 days for the wings to fully dry and then about a week for the thicker bodies (it was a two step process).
The words on the giant cupcake cake were all RI and I made 4 sets, still ended up w/ broken letters (you can "Glue" them back together w/ a bit of RI) that I just kind of placed on the cake to look whole. They were VERY thin (tip 1 or 2) so handling them was a bit tough.
Keep at it, you can do such intersting things w/ RI once you get the hang of it (most of mine are in storage b/c I haven't found the right cake for them yet!). 
BTW, I like the flowers - they will look great on your cupcakes.
I love your butterflies! So cute! I will keep at the royal because I want to get better at piping anyway! :] Thank you for your advice!
Ohh that was like a lightbulb, I think I was trying to peel a little of both off! :] Thank you 7yyrt!
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