Royal Icing Peapod

I was reading about the first Thanksgiving and was surprised to find that peas were supposedly on the menu; they don't get nearly the amount of historical credit that pumpkins and maize do. All you need to pipe a sweet little peapod are stiff consistency royal icing (I used Avocado by AmeriColor; a color I haven't used since I made those gum paste artichokes), round tip #12, leaf tip #69, tip #61 by Bakery Crafts (a teardrop shaped tip used primarily for piping violets), 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 tip at a right angle and against the surface, and pipe a gently curved shape to form half of the peapod.

Here's another view of it. 

 Repeat to form the other half.

 Pipe as many peas in whichever size you wish. I was able to fit three peas with tip #12. Hold the tip just above and at a right angle to the center line, squeeze briefly, and pull up and away while stopping pressure.

 Touch a fingertip to the dusting pouch and tap the peaks down into balls.

 You could stop here or add a leaf or two if you like; make sure they're firmly anchored to the pod. I used a #69 leaf tip. I think these would be sweet cupcake toppers for a baby shower in anticipation of multiple births; tiny faces could be drawn on with food-safe markers like AmeriColor Gourmet Writers, and the peas could be piped in whatever skin tone you like.

Royal Icing Cockle Shells

This is yet another one of those projects that I thought of while doing something completely unrelated to cake decorating; probably driving or doing dishes. I was thinking about the curved petal tips used for piping violets and, well, not much else. It seemed to me they might be the right shape to pipe shells; after looking around on Wikipedia, I figured the exact shell I had in mind was the cockle, a "group of (mostly) small, edible, saltwater clams." Here's all I needed; medium consistency royal icing in a bag fitted with a #61 curved petal tip, parchment paper squares, a flower nail, and a glue stick.

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

 Here's a close-up of the tip. As you can see, one side is wider than the other.

 Hold the wide side in the center of the nail, almost perpendicular to the surface. As you begin piping, keep the wide side in the center and rotate the narrow side clockwise while pulsing the tip up and down to form ridges.

 When the shell is the right size and shape, stop piping and draw the tip toward you. You might need to tap any rough edges into place with a fingertip or back of your fingernail; touch your finger to a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch, if need be.

 Here's another view from the other side:

 Here's another, slightly wider, shell…

 …and another view of it.

 The shells turned out very tiny, and they were made with the largest curved petal tip I own. They'd be ideal any time a tiny decoration is required (like for petits fours, mini cupcakes or cake pops), and could definitely be piped with a striped bag or dusted with Pearl Dust.