Royal Icing Decorative Gourds

This might be the first of a number of decorative gourd recreations; they're easy, cute, there's a million varieties of them (well, at least dozens), and they'd look great in a cornucopia of other symbols of the season on a cake (or even a pie!). All you'll need to pipe the yellow, bumpy variety of decorative gourd is stiff consistency royal icing, round tips #12 and #2, a flower nail, a Styrofoam block to rest the nail in, parchment paper squares, 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 at a 45 degree angle to and just above the surface. Squeeze hard to pipe a ball, then decrease pressure and move the tip along for a few millimeters before stopping pressure and pulling the tip away. If a peak remains, touch a fingertip to the dusting pouch and tap it down. Allow the icing to dry for a few minutes.

 Switch to the #2 tip and pipe a scattering of dots, single and in clusters. Tap down any peaks with a dusted fingertip. If you happen to know the proper name for this particular gourd, please send me a message because I couldn't figure it out!