Piping Roses with Tip #101s

Yesterday's blog post was about the largest flower I've ever piped: the gerbera daisy. Just to shake things up, today I piped the smallest flower I've ever piped (with the exception of drop flowers): a rose with petal tip #101s. More common tips for piping roses are the #101 and #104, and I really felt the difference with this smaller tip; you could place one of these roses on a dime with room to spare! Here's the tiny #1 nail I piped it on…

…and here it is, side by side with the nail #914 from yesterday:

Also, here's the #101s tip to the right of the largest petal tip I own, the #126. 

In addition to the #1 nail and the #101s tip, you'll need a Styrofoam brick to set the nail in, a #8 tip, a glue stick, parchment squares (very tiny ones! I cut some 3" ones into fourths), royal icing in any color you like, and a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of cornstarch and powdered sugar. 

 Stick a parchment square to the nail with a dab from the glue stick.

 Pipe a rose base with the #8 tip. Make it look like a tiny Hershey's kiss. Hold the tip just above and perpendicular to the surface, squeeze out a small amount and draw the tip up. You may need to touch a fingertip to the dusting pouch and then to the base to perfect the shape.

 Pipe all of your bases at the same time, one for each rose. Allow them to firm up, then return one of them to the nail. Switch the tip to the #101s, and pipe a wraparound petal while rotating the nail.

 I had a hard time following traditional rose instructions (like those for the Wilton Rose) because of the tininess of the petals; I just couldn't do the standard rows of 3, 5, and 7 petals! Instead, I piped with the goal of covering the base. Here's the rose with the wraparound petal and one row of petals surrounding it…

 …and here's one more row of petals to finish it off. By the way, to pipe petals, squeeze the bag while moving the tip in an upside down "U" movement. These are great for decorating tiny little cookies, cakes, petits fours, whatever! You could eat an entire bouquet in one bite!