I Learn So Much from my Students, Chapter a Million

I declared a botanical theme for this session's classes (the advanced and intermediate folks, at least; the beginners have enough to think about without throwing a theme at them.) In that vein, one of my students brought his professional skills to bear. He used to decorate cakes for a living, and after I mixed up some slip of an appropriate consistency, he showed me how to make "frosting" roses.

It takes some practice and I can't say I've mastered it, but I can make something that is recognizably floral, at least. (When my student, David, makes them you'd swear you can smell the rose.) I got the pastry bag, rose tip, and rose nail at Joann Crafts. Getting the slip to the right consistency took a few tries: too stiff and it won't even emerge from the bag, too thin and the flowers lose their shape. A blender worked much better for preparing the slip than hand-mixing, because mechanical blending results in fewer lumps.

Here's me, giving it a shot: