My best tip would be for you to pick up a Wilton decorating book, sold anywhere they have cake decorating supplies. Each book has icing recipes and shows you basic lessons of what each tip will "do" and then all you have to do is practice. Cover the back of a cookie sheet with plastic wrap and practice away! Also, pick up a package of the disposable parchment triangles to make your own pastry cone bags . . . each color needs its own bag, so you'll go through a lot of bags.

michelle, what numbered tips came with the kit? and yes, five bucks is excellent. some of the standards in those kits are 16 (star) 3 (writing/strings) 67 (leaves) 21 rosettes/garland 102 (roses) the basket weave one is escaping my thoughts right now - 40 something??? 46 - 47???

are the pastry bags cloth or that plastic type?

if you are using a grease/buttercream type icing - mark which bag you use it in because if you are going to do color flow, royal icing or a non-buttered/grease type icing, it stays in the bag (cloth) and can break down.

the flower nail is good for roses and other type flowers. if you are going to let them dry, cut out circles of waxed paper a tad bigger than the nail head - dab a dot of icing on the nail head, put the waxed circle down and pipe your flower onto that. then let your flowers sit to air dry. this is also a good method is you are doing royal icing.

don't buy any books, i can send some to you if you would like.

maryanne

Don't overfill the bags. It is always a temptation but control is better when they aren't overfilled. I learned from the Wilton books - you can get the cheapest one and then experiment from there.

For buttercream, shortning based handles best - it is less sensitive to temperature, but of course butter tastes best. I usually compromise and do half and half which gets the flavor but more stable consistancy.

I like the plastic decorating bags that come in a roll so I can have lots of different colors set up. You can either buy extra couplings or if you don't need to change tips you cut the end off smaller and put the tip in the bag without a coupler. Folded out of parchment paper triangles is another option as Maryanne suggests.

To fill the bags, it works best to hold the bag about half way down and fold the top of the bag over your hand. That way you can fill the bag without getting frosting on the top edge or outside. One of those long thin decorating spatulas works well for getting the frosting packed in - you can wipe the frosting off against the bag where your hand is holding it. You can use a spoon if you don't have the spatula.

There are fun effects you can get by loading the bag with two colors of frosting. I put in mostly blue with a strip of white to make waves when I was doing a dolphin cake. You can also put stripes of food coloring in the bag and then load with white or light colored frosting for a multi-color effect.

When the bag is filled (for plastic and cloth bags) take the top up and twist it. Then you cradle the twisted top between in the slot between your thumb and forefinger. Wrap you hand around the bag and use your whole hand (mainly palm) to squeeze. You can guide the tip a little with a finger of your other hand. When the bag starts to get empty, you can twist the top more.

Do you have the paste colors? I like to use them because they don't change the consistancy of the frosting. Don't overbeat the frosting - if there is too much air in it, it will be hard to get stiff enough for things like roses.

I find it is important to sift the powdered sugar so there are no lumps. You want a thinner frosting for spreading and thicker for decorating so it will hold the ridges. The thickest is needed for things like roses where you build up a structure. I still haven't mastered roses.

Sweet peas are one of my favorites - pretty easy to make and a pleasing effect. Also round flowers made with the star tip rotating it as you squeeze.

I would LOVE to know where you get bags in a roll:)
I am just starting also:) And thanks everyone for the tips and tricks.

Check out Wilton.com and google cake decorating ideas.

Thanks so much for all the tips!!! Some fabulous information so far. I am going to copy and save the entire thread.

The pastry bags are a heavy, cotton fabric and lined with some kind of plastic material. I think I would like the disposable bags better as these look like they would be a pain to clean.

Thanks Maryanne for the offer of the books. But I can go to our library and just check out a few. I've not had time to get to our library since I checked out some canning books and good grief that was 6-7 months ago!

Let's see, the tips included in the little box are:

#2 fine writing tip

#4 medium writing tip

#24 Small Star Tip

#27 Medium Star Tip

#30 Large Star Tip

#47 Ribbon Tip

#59/#61/#96 Petal Flower Tips

#67/#63 Leaf Tips

#98 Shell Tip

Michelle

You can get the disposable decorating bags in a roll at Michaels or probably any other place that sells cake decorating supplies. This has a picture of the box so you know what you are looking for.

I found where Wilton has the decorating information on line. They have illustrations of the bag filling I was describing under How to choose and use decorating bags.

Here is a link that might be useful: decorating tips

Thanks so much for the bag link.