Beginner · about 10 minutes · 3 strokes
Drop flowers practice sheet (tip 2D, free PDF)
Quick answer
The drop flowers sheet is free to download and print. It is a beginner sheet for closed star tip 2D with 3 strokes of drop flowers and takes about 10 minutes: print the A4 or US Letter PDF at 100%, pipe over the grey shapes in the numbered order, then photograph it for a score out of 100.
Quick piped flowers with a closed star tip. One squeeze and a quarter twist makes a flower.
You need a piping bag with tip 2D (closed star).
Free for personal practice. Print at 100% scale ("actual size").
What the drop flowers sheet trains
Drop flowers are quick piped flowers made with the closed star tip 2D: one squeeze with a quarter twist makes one flower. The sheet has two rows of five and a flower ring with one more in the centre.
Hold the bag straight up, squeeze while you give a quarter twist, stop, then lift. Twist the same way every time so the petals line up from flower to flower. For the ring, start at the top, work round clockwise, then finish with the one in the middle.
- On the sheet
- 3 strokes of drop flowers, 18 single squeezes
- Bead size
- 18 mm wide
- Speed
- 18 mm a second
- Bag angle
- straight up (90°)
- Squeeze rhythm
- squeeze → twist → stop → lift
- Separate starts
- 18: every line, unit or letter stroke begins with a fresh squeeze
Stroke by stroke
Bead is how wide the icing should be (or how big each unit is); speed is how fast to move along the line.
| # | What you pipe | Bead | Speed | Bag angle | Squeeze rhythm | Cue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 drop flowers, each about 18 mm across | 18 mm | 18 mm/s | 90° (straight up) | squeeze → twist → stop → lift | Hold the bag straight up, squeeze while you give a quarter twist, stop, then lift. |
| 2 | 5 drop flowers, each about 18 mm across | 18 mm | 18 mm/s | 90° (straight up) | squeeze → twist → stop → lift | Twist the same way each time so the petals line up. |
| 3 | 8 drop flowers, each about 18 mm across | 18 mm | 18 mm/s | 90° (straight up) | squeeze → twist → stop → lift | A flower ring: start at the top, work round clockwise, then finish with one in the middle. |
Print the PDF at 100% and check the bar at the bottom measures 10 cm, fit tip 2D, pipe strokes 1 to 3 in order, then photograph the sheet from straight above with all four corner squares in view. Printing and photo tips.
Watch the ghost nozzle
Press play and pipe along with the green ghost: it moves at each stroke's target speed.
Stroke 1 of 3
Hold the bag straight up, squeeze while you give a quarter twist, stop, then lift.
Mistakes to watch for on this sheet
Matching flowers come from the same squeeze length. Check for one flower bigger than the rest and for peaks in the centres, which show the lift came before the stop.
- Different sizes
Most likely on strokes 1 to 3 (drop flowers). Count the same rhythm for every one (squeeze, ease, pull) so each gets the same amount of icing.
- Peaks on dots
Most likely on strokes 1 to 3 (drop flowers). Stop squeezing before you lift, then flick the tip sideways to break the icing off cleanly.
- Drifting off the line
Most likely on strokes 1 to 3 (drop flowers). Hold the bag at 45 degrees and aim the tip right on the grey line, not beside it.
The drop flowers sheet in the 30-day challenge
The 30-day piping challenge uses this sheet on days 5 and 20. It comes after shell border and before loops.
- Day 5 · New sheetSqueeze while you give a quarter twist, stop, then lift. Twist the same way every time.
- Day 20 · RepeatRepeat of day 5. Same twist direction, same squeeze length.