I am in the 1st Wilton course, learning how to do the rose... I just can't seem to get it... can anyone give me any pointers on it? Please!!!

Me too!!! I only know how to do the roses on a stick.

It just takes practice. Be sure to ask your instructor any questions you may have, watch her do it, she will be happy to make some right in front of you, but the main thing is just practice, practice, practice.

I have one problem... my instructor broke her wrist or something 2 days before class.... so, she can't show me... AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!

What exactly is it you cant get?

Using your tip #104, once you form your base, you make a one single wrap around ribbon type petal to form the center of the rose bud, you attach three petals standing just about straight up,to form the rose bud, then 5 petals slightly slanted and staggered from them to form the rose and 7 petals even more slanted to form a full rose, (I usually do the 3 and 5 petals roses).. you start out using a slight arch style lift while applying pressure and releasing pressure on the down side of the arch to complete the petal, allowing the icing to flow freely and smoothly the entire time, make sure you are turning your flower nail away from you while forming your petals towards you, make sure you are keeping the speed of the turn of your nail in sync with the speed you are squeezing your bag as well, this allows for smooth edges on the rose petals.

I always tell all my students:
Practice makes perfect, and the more you practice the better you will catch on and become.

Hope this helps....Sending You Rose Petal Blessings, Mary

I still struggle with the base falling over when I apply the bud and petals. Others have suggested that you freeze the bases for a few minutes before doing the rest. It does help.

No you don't have to cool the base at all!!!

Sounds like the icing you are using is too soft,add more powdered sugar till you get the consistency right, you need a slightly stiff yet not dry icing to make roses or any flowers so far as that goes.

Also icing has a tendency to soften the longer you hold the bag in your hand, via your body temp...its a good idea once the icing gets too soft/warm to put it in the fridg for a few minutes and take that time to rest your hand or have two bags loaded and lay the warm one down to cool and use the other one (the one I call my back up unit) Tee Hee

But in a nut shell, sounds like your icing is too soft...I've done hundreds of roses and never put the base in the fridg...you should always be able to start and finish an icing rose in one single setting.

Hopes this helps, Abundant Blessings, Mary

To frosting111.......my icing is always stiff, and I don't have problems with other flowers; just those darn roses! I switch bags, too, but it seems like the bag is only good for 2 roses. It's quite frustrating! Thanks for the info.

I pipe a decent rose, but I find Fondant roses a lot easier that's why I stick to doing Fondant Roses. But I'm sure practice will make it perfect..

I haven't tried this yet, but someone said they did their roses using a hershey kiss as the center. I bought some hersheys kisses... just haven't made roses yet!

I personally hate bc roses!!!! I prefer to make royal! They're so much easier to me.

Anyway, it could be a # of things....base not big enough, icing not stiff enough and so on and so on.

Just take the pointers/tips you get from this thread and apply them, if you haven't already.

Try different things, like varying the base to see which size really works well.

It really does take practice, practice and more practice..........but then you get burnt out on it, lol!




I put a very small amount of bc in the bag (on those rare occasions that I do make bc roses). By refilling often VERY OFTEN, lol, it helps b/c the icing isn't warmed by my hand.




There's not really any pointers that I can give other than eliminate one thing at a time, base, consistency, humidity, etc., etc.

I do wish you (and everyone else trying to make these) the best of luck. When you get it right, please let ME know what it was and it might help me out next time I make them.







BTW: sorry for writing a chapter!

i have found that if yo don't make the base dense it will have a tendency to fall over. I don't use a #10 or #12 round for the base i just pipe it on in a swirly fashion with the 104 (don't have time to fiddle with two dif bags). I have found that if you really pack that icing on the base it won't fall over and I can make em quite quickly too
I think that you can watch the video of rose making on the wilton web site. That might help.

I just learned how to make roses on a nail. I DON'T use wax paper. I pipe the base on, holding the bag at a 90 degree angle and squeeze it to be about the size and shape of a hershey's kiss. Then I proceed with the regular way to make the rose. I have discovered that if I don't put the petals all the way on the bottom of the base, I can more easily move the rose from the nail to the cake with scissors. Hope some of that helps!

I'm with all the rest of you who have trouble with the roses! My bases fall over as soon as I begin to do the first wraparound petal. Then, my edges are thick and sort of "goopy", rather than nice and crisp. Finally, I just can't seem to get the hang of tilting out properly for the 5 and 7 petal layers, so I tend to just make buds or small roses!!!! From all the expert comments, I wonder if my icing too is too soft or warm..seems like when I really stiffen it up, I can't squeeze it out of the bag! And yes, royal is easier than buttercream. I appreciate all the advice y'all are giving those of us who are having trouble. Thanks - PAT

Okay, from one non-expert rose maker to another.....Practice, Practice, Practice! I thought I was going to throw up if I heard that one more time. Once it took me 8 hours of practice to make one semi-decent rose. Now I am in Course II and the RI roses are easier. For me the BCF gets to soft from the heat of my hand and everything slips off. I learned that parchment cones don't heat up my frosting as fast, so I use parchment for making flowers. Plus, I do have to alternate bags from hand to refridg. I also had to learn how the humidity affected my BCF. So, at risk of making you throw up.....Practice, Practice, Practice.

Yes, yes, yes, I know you're right! Maybe I'll just scream and throw some icing rather than throwing up!!! PAT

If you have no problem with not having a soft center, USE the kisses, they work great! As far as the petal goes, watch the Wilton video: http://www.wilton.com/decorating/basic/roses.cfm

Practice, practice, practice! Good luck!

I know it is easier said than done, try not to stress yourself too much while making the roses. If you live in a humid area even in an airconditioned home the roses start to melt as you pipe them on the flower nail. I know, it's frustrating. Like everyone says we have to practice until we are satisfied with the outcome.

I can make a pretty decent rose using the flower nail but tell me again what the pencil rose is? I think I heard mention of that in my Course 1 class but can't remember now what they said.

I, too, am having trouble with these roses. I couldn't even get past the base. Tomorrow I plan on spending the whole night just practicing.

I'll be practicing with ya Malika! Gotta get them down before Monday's class!

OK so I tried to make the roses again last night. NOT GOOD! I guess I'm not getting the consistency of the frosting right. How do you tell if you've actually got stiff frosting or if you added too much water and ity's become medium? Is there a way to tell the difference between stiff and medium. I can pipe the base of the rose but as soon as I put the first little wrap-around petal on it, the whole thing tips over.

I"M REALLY GETTING FRUSTRATED!!!! Somebody help me please!

Oh look at my gallery - not one rose - never - nada - forever. Never got it. I had a teacher who was not patient and now I will never get it and I don't care! I will buy the dang thing first! Shame on my teacher!!!!!! Ya can talk to me till your blue in the face - I need to be shown and with someone who is patient!!!!!!!!! Wally's World carries beautiful Wilton premade sprays and I will use them.

Buttercream roses strike! Who's with me?

I'm with you on having a hard time making roses. I refused to give up though. I took the Wilton 1 course 2 times just so I could learn how to make a nice rose.

When they didn't work out I took another class that was not Wilton. My teacher said she had the same problems when she was learning and found out if you put a tsp or two of corn starch in your icing you are using for the rose it will hold up better.

I tried it and for the first time EVER I made a pertty good group of roses.

Don't give up. They can be done. Just keep going over and over and try every trick you learn about and one day they will come out great and you will be shocked it took you so long.

I was also told by one of my teachers that it takes about 100 roses before you really get them down. So the more you practice the faster you will get it down.

Good luck.
Joanne

Personally, my two biggest problems with getting a decent rose were not having a big enough base. My instructor had us draw a circle with a permanent marker on our flower nails using the large open end of a tip. It is the largest I have ever made the bottom of the base and it worked!!! Also, I found out from here at CC that perhaps my tip #104 was too narrow at the narrow end. I went and bought new tips and they weren't as narrow and they made a HUGE difference!!!!! Also, practice, practice, practice!!!!

Okay, I'm NOT an expert by any means but I just made 96 royal icing roses for my latest wedding cake...(I didn't have to use all of them)! Anyway, I got pretty good I think as I went along.

One thing, if you use a rose nail to make your roses MAKE SURE YOUR BASE IS LARGE!!!!! If you have the Wilton instruction booklet, look at their picture of their base on the nail.....it takes up just about the entire diameter of the nail. That is sooooooooo important I figured out! My base kept tipping over no matter how stiff my icing was. I looked at the picture again and realized my base wasn't broad enough!!!!!! Once I changed that, everything was just fine. I DID NOT go by the number of petals Wilton suggested!!!! I just put however many I felt like!!!!!! I found that the more petals I had the further back I had to tip my bag to get "underneath" to pipe more petals. I went in a "upside down U" motion!!!! It helps as well to wipe the tip every so many petals too!


Hope this helps!

Amy

Tiptop, I looked at your gallery. What do you need with roses? You do beautiful without them. See, not everyone needs to do everything.

I am with tiptop - NO BUTTERCREAM ROSES - there are none in my gallery as well. I never did get a handle on them, and you can go to any grocery store deli and get them on your cake. I decided to spend more time on the other, more exotic flowers and people seem to prefer those anyway....