Royal Icing Flax

Yet another symbolic flower from the United Kingdom: flax is the emblem of Northern Ireland, and even appeared on the reverse of the British one pound coin in 1986 and 1991. I'm intrigued by it, because it's one of the few truly blue flowers I've run across. I used Sky Blue, along with a trace amount of Royal Purple (both by AmeriColor). Along with this light blue stiff consistency royal icing loaded in a bag fitted with a #101 petal tip, you'll also need yellow icing in a bag with a #16 star tip, a glue stick, parchment paper squares, a flower nail, a Styrofoam brick to rest the nail in, and a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch. If you'd like to cheat a little to get those petals really even, stick a template decal for the apple blossom and primrose to the flower nail. 

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

 Hold the petal tip almost flat against the surface with the outer, narrow edge angled up slightly. Pipe a petal while moving your hand in an upside-down "U" motion, while jiggling your hand to create the ruffled texture. The outer edge of the petal should be somewhere between the two circles on the template, and the petal should fit inside one of the five wedges. Keep the dusting pouch handy in case you need to touch a fingertip to it to neaten up any of the petals.

 Pipe the second petal in the same way…

 …and the third…

 …the fourth…

 …and the fifth.

 Pipe a #16 yellow star in the center and flatten it with a dusted fingertip. Flax flowers remind me a lot of the cherry blossom, and can also be found in red.

Royal Icing Shamrocks

In my ongoing quest to pipe something symbolic of the Olympics or the United Kingdom every night of the games, tonight Northern Ireland gets its nod with a shamrock (can you believe I didn't pipe these back on St. Patrick's Day? I was really into gum paste then). All you need to pipe shamrocks are green stiff consistency royal icing, a flower nail, parchment paper squares, a glue stick, round tip #3 or #4, petal tip #104 (or #101 if you want to make smaller shamrocks), a Styrofoam block to rest the nail in, and a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch. Start by sticking a parchment square to the nail with a dab from the glue stick. 

 Hold the petal tip almost flat against the surface with the wide end in the middle. Pipe the first of three heart-shaped leaves. Increase pressure when forming the two rounded outer edges of the heart. The wide end of the tip should move no more than about a quarter of an inch from the center toward the edge and then back to its starting place in the center while you're piping the leaf.

 Here's a side view…

 …and a view from the other side. Keep the outer, narrow edge of the tip just above the surface to give it that 3-dimensional quality.

 Tuck the tip under and alongside the first leaf and pipe the second leaf…

…and then the third. Touch a fingertip to the dusting pouch and use it to neaten up any edges that don't look right. 

 

Here's another side view. 

 Switch to a small round tip (#3 or #4) and pipe a short, curved stem. Allow your shamrocks to firm up, then peel away the parchment. File this idea away for St. Patrick's Day, for sure!