Royal Icing Starfish

I'd venture to say the starfish is the easiest royal icing animal you can possibly pipe; it consists of nothing more than stiff consistency royal icing and round tips. I made them in three different sizes using #'s 8, 10 and 12. The tiny dots are piped with a round #2.  Pipe the starfish on a large piece of parchment paper; I cut these to about 4".

Start the first leg by piping a ball, then elongating it in a random sort of fashion. Hold the tip at a 45 degree angle in the center of the parchment, squeeze until a ball forms, then move the tip along as you see fit. End some of the legs with an upturned tip, like this. You can perfect the tips with your fingertips after touching them to a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of cornstarch and powdered sugar. 

 Pipe each of the five legs by butting the tip up against the base of the leg next to it.

 Make sure to vary the positions of each leg…

 …and don't worry if they aren't all the exact same length.

 Touch a fingertip to the dusting pouch, then tap it against the seams where the legs all join in the center. Do your best to blur the lines while maintaining the overall shape.

 Give the starfish ample time to dry; I placed them on a cookie rack on the stove under the warmth of the hood light (a desk lamp would work well, too).

Pipe little dots all over the starfish, if you like. I used a #2 tip, and made the dots larger in the center, and smaller as I piped dots down the legs.