Royal Icing Water Lily

Here's a water lily to accompany yesterday's royal icing lily pad. It's based on a design I found in the recently re-released book by Wilton, The Uses of the Most Popular Decorating Tips (originally published in 1986). The water lily is piped with a curved ribbon tip; I used a Magic Tip #79.

 You'll also need a parchment square for each water lily, stiff consistency royal icing in yellow, green, and purple (put a tip #2 on the yellow bag and the curved ribbon tip on the green; it'll also be used on the purple), a non-toxic glue stick, a flower nail, a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch, and a Styrofoam block to rest the nail in.

 Start by attaching a parchment paper square to the nail with a dab from the glue stick.

 Holding the back of the tip flat on the nail, pipe six leaves, radiating out from the center.

 Touch your thumb and index finger to the dusting pouch, and pinch the tip of each leaf to a point.

 Stick the nail in the Styrofoam block, and switch the curved ribbon tip to the bag of purple icing. Pipe six petals so they lay in between the green ones below.

 Pinch the ends to points as you did the leaves.

 Pipe another six shorter petals, again staggering them in between the petals below.

 Pinch the tips into points, and pipe a cluster of yellow stamens in the center. To form them, hold the tip perpendicular to the nail, squeeze a small bead for an anchor, then pull up a short distance before stopping pressure and pulling away.