Royal Icing Mayflowers

Yesterday I piped a peach as a nod of the head to the state of Georgia. I thought I might keep going with piping something to represent each of the 50 states; not only was the peach a lot of fun, but I had my 50,000th page view within a few minutes of posting it! Too weird to be a coincidence! Anyway, picking another state at random, I thought I'd move on to the official state flower of Massachusetts: the mayflower (not the ship). All you'll need to pipe mayflowers are stiff consistency royal icing in white and yellow, leaf tip #352, round tips #12 and #4, parchment paper squares, a flower nail, a Styrofoam block to rest the nail in, a glue stick, and a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch. Start by sticking a parchment square to the flower nail with a dab from the glue stick. 

Hold the #12 tip just above the surface and squeeze out a half-inch column of icing. Stop pressure and pull the tip away. Touch your fingertips to the dusting pouch and tap the shape to perfect it. Pipe one base for each mayflower and set them aside to firm up for about half an hour.

Pipe five petals using the #352 leaf tip. Hold the tip against the surface at a 45 degree angle, squeeze briefly, then pull the tip away. 

Taper the tip of each petal with your fingertips, if need be. Pipe each of the five petals close to the one next to it.

Angle the petals upwards with your fingertips.

Pipe a #4 dot for the center. The mayflower bears more than a slight resemblance to the stephanotis, doesn't it?