A petal tip is the one nozzle in the bag that decides whether your buttercream flower looks like a flower or like a swirl. There are only a handful of shapes, and the differences between them are small enough to be invisible in a product photo — which is why so many decorators buy the wrong one, or buy four when two would have done.
This guide covers the four petal-tip families Willia makes, the eight nozzle sizes inside them, and how to match the tip to the flower you intend to pipe. Every tip listed here is a seamless one-piece 304 stainless steel nozzle, dishwasher safe, and fits standard pastry bags and couplers.
First: the two families of flower tip
Almost every flower you pipe in buttercream comes out of one of two very different openings.
Petal tips have a single opening — a slot, a crescent or a teardrop. Buttercream leaves the bag as one flat, ribbon-like petal, and you build the flower by piping petal after petal in overlapping rings. Roses, peonies, ranunculus, chrysanthemums and carnations all come from petal tips.
Star tips have a ring of teeth around the opening. Buttercream leaves as a single ridged rope, so a star tip builds a flower in one squeeze — a rosette, a swirl. That is the difference customers notice instantly: a petal tip makes a flower with visible petals, a star tip makes a flower that reads as a piped dome. For the star side of the kit, see the 2D 6-cut closed star tip and the 1M large open star tip.
This guide is about the first family.
Four petal-tip families, eight nozzle sizes
Willia’s floral nozzles fall into four families. Within two of them the same opening is made in several sizes, and the size is what decides how large a flower you can pipe.
| Family | Opening | Sizes in the family | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight teardrop rose petal — No. 102 / 104 or No. 103 | Smooth oval, no teeth or slit | 9.5 mm · 10 mm · 13 mm | Roses with realistic tapered petals, peonies, ruffles |
| Curved crescent petal — No. 61 / 124K / 123 | Shallow crescent slot | 11 mm · 16 mm · 18 mm slanted | Peonies, English roses, Korean buttercream, carnations |
| Closed rose tip — F4 | Eight inward-curving rays | Single size | Layered roses and rosettes in one spiral movement |
| Chrysanthemum tip — No. 80 | Deep, narrow slit | Single size | Chrysanthemums, succulents, dense layered blooms |
Foliage is a separate tool: the No. 115 leaf piping tip pipes leaves with a raised centre vein, and the No. 23 grass tip handles grass, fur and fine texture.
The straight teardrop family — 9.5 mm, 10 mm, 13 mm
| Model | Opening | Height | SKU | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 102 micro | 9.5 mm | 30 mm | WL-N102 | Miniature roses, buds, jasmine, macaron toppers |
| No. 103 fine | 10 mm | 31 mm | WL-N103 | Small roses, peonies, fine ruffles |
| No. 104 (the listing below covers No. 102 and No. 104) | 13 mm | 29 mm | WL-N104 | Roses with realistic open petals, peonies, ruffles |
The teardrop opening is a smooth oval with no teeth and no slit, so the icing comes out as a petal with a rounded body and a clean, tapered point. This is the shape that produces the most natural-looking rose petal — and the least forgiving of soft icing, because the point blurs if the buttercream is too loose.
Which size? No. 103 is only 0.5 mm wider than No. 102, so they cover the same work — pick one for miniature and small flowers, then step straight up to the 13 mm No. 104 for anything full-size. Most decorators who pipe roses at more than one size keep the 9.5 mm and the 13 mm. See the straight teardrop rose petal tips
The curved crescent family — 11 mm, 16 mm, 18 mm slanted
| Model | Opening | Size class | Height | Base | SKU | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 61 | 11 mm curved slit | Small (S) | 28 mm | 18 mm | WL-N61 | Cupcake roses, mini cakes, tight flowers |
| No. 124K (the listing below covers all three) | 16 mm crescent slot | Medium-Large (M/L) | 39 mm | 25 mm | WL-N124K | Peonies, English roses, Korean buttercream flowers |
| No. 123 | 18 mm slanted crescent | Large (L) | 38 mm | 25 mm | WL-N123 | Full-size roses, carnations, petals that curl outward |
A curved crescent is a slot curved along its length. The curve cups the petal as it leaves the tip, which is what makes layered flowers read as layered rather than flat. No. 123 is cut at a slant rather than straight across, and that single difference makes its petals lift and curl outward instead of lying flat.
Which size? One medium-large crescent (16 mm) and one small crescent (11 mm) will cover almost everything a bakery counter sells — the 16 mm for main blooms, the 11 mm for buds and the secondary flowers in the same arrangement. See the curved crescent rose petal tips
The closed rose tip — F4
The F4 is built differently from every tip above. It is a closed star with eight inward-curving rays, so a single flat spiral produces a layered rose without piping a petal individually. It is the fastest route to a rose and the most consistent across a batch — which matters when you are filling a display case.
The chrysanthemum tip — No. 80
Chrysanthemums and piped succulents are not built petal by petal in rings. They are built from dozens of short, dense petals, and that needs a deep narrow slit rather than a wide crescent. The No. 80 chrysanthemum tip has a 9 mm slit cut for exactly that: stack the petals in tight offset rings and the flower builds itself, dense at the centre and opening outward.
Choose by the flower you want to pipe
Roses. Three answers, depending on how the rose should look.
- Smooth, tapered petals — a straight teardrop opening. 13 mm (No. 104) for standard size, 9.5 mm (No. 102) for miniature roses on cupcakes and macarons.
- Petals that curl outward — the slanted crescent of No. 123 (18 mm), which is covered on the curved crescent listing.
- A rose or rosette in one movement — the F4 closed rose tip.
Peonies. Peonies need many wide, ruffled petals in layered rings. The 16 mm crescent (No. 124K) is the size that suits them: big enough that the bloom reads as a peony rather than a rose, with a slot that shapes the soft, cupped outer petals. For larger peonies, pipe the outer rings at 18 mm.
Chrysanthemums and succulents. The No. 80 chrysanthemum tip. Its 9 mm deep slit is built for dense layered petals, and the same tip and technique produce piped echeveria and other succulents.
Korean-style buttercream and bean-paste flowers. This style lives on thin, delicate, layered petals. The 16 mm crescent is the workhorse, with the 11 mm covering the small flowers and buds in the same arrangement. Both are on the curved crescent listing.
Tulips, ranunculus and buds. Tapered, closed flowers come from a straight teardrop opening — 13 mm (No. 104) for standard size, 9.5 mm (No. 102) for miniature.
Leaves and foliage. None of the petal tips above pipes a leaf. The No. 115 leaf piping tip has a V-cut centre notch that forms the vein automatically as you drag; the No. 23 grass tip covers grass, fur and fine texture.
Choose by size: what each class actually covers
The size class decides how big the finished flower can be. Piping a peony with a 9.5 mm tip is not impossible — it just takes four times as long and the petals come out too fine.
| Size class | Typical opening | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Micro / Fine (S) | 9 – 10 mm | Miniature roses, buds, jasmine, ranunculus, macaron and cupcake toppers |
| Small (S) | 11 – 13 mm | Standard cupcake roses, small peonies, fine ruffles and borders |
| Medium-Large (M/L) | 16 mm | Full-size roses, peonies, cascading Korean-style arrangements |
| Large (L) | 18 mm and up | Statement blooms, carnations, ruffled borders on tiered cakes |
A practical rule: pick the largest tip that still fits the flower you are piping. Going small costs time and produces petals that look thin. Going too large makes the petals too heavy to hold their shape in soft buttercream.
Most working decorators end up with two: one medium-large tip for the main blooms and one small tip for buds and secondary flowers in the same arrangement.
Straight teardrop, curved crescent, or slanted crescent?
Three opening shapes cover almost all petal work, and they are not interchangeable.
Straight teardrop. A smooth oval opening with no teeth or slit. The icing leaves as a petal with a rounded body and a clean, tapered point — the most natural-looking rose petal, and the least forgiving of soft icing.
Curved crescent. A slot curved along its length. The curve gives the petal a soft, cupped shape as it leaves the tip, which is what makes peonies and ruffled blooms read as layered rather than flat.
Slanted crescent. The same crescent, but the slot is cut at an angle rather than straight across. As you pipe, the petal curls first one way and then the other, so petals lift off the surface instead of lying flat. This is the shape for roses and carnations where you want visible, open petals.
Deep narrow slit. Not a petal shape at all — a narrow slot for dense layered flowers such as chrysanthemums.
Why these tips are seamless 304 stainless steel
Every tip in this guide is drawn from a single piece of 304 stainless steel, with no welded or folded seam anywhere in the bore. That matters for three practical reasons:
- Nothing to trap icing. A seamed nozzle holds a film of buttercream or royal icing inside the joint, where it dries, hardens and eventually flakes loose into the next batch. A seamless bore rinses clean under a tap in seconds.
- Cleaner petal edges. A seam creates a slight lip that smears the icing as it passes. With a continuous polished interior, petal edges come out sharp instead of feathered.
- Survives a commercial kitchen. 304 stainless resists the acids and salts in icing and repeated high-temperature dishwasher cycles. The tips are dishwasher safe and will not rust if left damp overnight.
For anyone running volume production — or answering a food-safety audit — being able to say the tip has no internal crevice is a simpler position to defend than a cleaning procedure that depends on a brush reaching a seam.
What else you need in the bag
A petal tip on its own will get you a flower. These three items turn it into a working station:
- A coupler, so you can change tips without emptying the bag. The 25 mm base on the larger petal tips fits standard couplers.
- A flower nail and lifter, for piping blooms flat and then transferring them to the cake without distorting the petals.
- A leaf tip — the No. 115 — so the greens match the flowers exactly instead of being cut from fondant.
If you are stocking a full station, the individual nozzles range lets you compare every profile side by side, and the flower piping tips set covers five petal and leaf shapes in one order.
Buying petal tips wholesale
Willia is a factory-direct manufacturer in Yangjiang, Guangdong, supplying seamless 304 stainless steel nozzles to bakery distributors, cake-decorating retailers and private-label brands. Every tip in this guide is held as a separate SKU:
- MOQ 12 pcs per SKU, and different SKUs can be combined in one order — so you can stock a range of sizes and shapes without over-committing to any single one.
- Mixed containers accepted. Combine petal tips, leaf tips, star tips and complete kits in a single shipment.
- OEM and private label from 500 pcs — engraved or printed logo, custom packaging, custom set composition, barcode labelling and FBA-ready packing.
- Samples available, refunded on your first bulk order. Quotes are returned within 24 hours.
If you are not sure which sizes to stock, send us the flower styles your customers ask for most and we will suggest a starting assortment.
FAQ
What is a petal piping tip used for? Piping individual flower petals in buttercream or bean paste. Petal tips build roses, peonies, ranunculus, carnations and chrysanthemums petal by petal, in contrast to star tips, which build a flower in a single squeeze.
Which piping tip is best for roses? Three work, for three different results. A straight teardrop tip such as the 13 mm No. 104 gives smooth, tapered petals. A slanted crescent such as the 18 mm No. 123 gives petals that curl outward. The F4 closed rose tip gives a layered rose in a single spiral movement.
What is the difference between a petal tip and a star tip? A petal tip has a single slot, crescent or teardrop opening and pipes one flat petal at a time. A star tip has a ring of teeth and pipes a single ridged rope, producing a star, rosette or swirl.
Which tip should I buy first? If you only buy one, buy a medium-large curved crescent — the 16 mm crescent tip. It covers peonies, full roses and layered arrangements, which is most of what a bakery counter sells. Add a small tip later for buds and secondary flowers.
What is the difference between the 9.5 mm and the 10 mm teardrop tip? Half a millimetre. They cover the same work — miniature and small roses, peonies and fine ruffles. If you are buying one, buy either; if you are buying two, buy the 9.5 mm and the 13 mm instead, so the size difference is worth having.
Can I use these tips for Korean buttercream flowers? Yes. The crescent-slot tips at 11 mm and 16 mm are the shapes most Korean-style floral work uses, because they produce the thin, layered petal that style depends on.
Do these tips fit standard piping bags and couplers? Yes. Every tip listed here fits standard pastry bags, couplers and adapters. The larger petal tips use a 25 mm base, which is a standard size.
How do I clean a petal tip? Rinse under warm running water after use and wipe the slot with a small brush or a skewer for dried icing. The tips are seamless, so nothing collects inside the bore, and they are dishwasher safe for end-of-day sanitation.
Can I order a mixed set of petal tips? Yes. MOQ is 12 pcs per SKU and different SKUs can be combined in one order. Custom set compositions are available from 500 pcs.
Need pricing?
Send your target quantity, the tip numbers you want, and your destination port — we reply with a tiered quotation within 24 hours.