Reply to "How to Prevent "Points" or "Peaks" in Icing?"

I use a barely damp paint brush to smooth the points at the connection point when outlining.  I used to use a toothpick or scribe but it never got it totally smooth. The paintbrush works really well (a small tip and dipped in water, then wiped on a paper towel works well for me).  I just watched all of Julia's Ultimate Cookies DVD and she talked a lot about consistency of icing (it is exactly the opposite of what I was doing).  You need looser icing for dots if you are getting points.  My first dotting experience, they were running together so I used a thicker consistency, but they usually do end up with points (which I then use the paintbrush to fix, but it flattens them some).  I wasn't getting the "in between" consistency I needed for dots.  I do love dots!    She has a lot of other great tips and I found the series to be very helpful.  I am self-taught and it was nice to have some instruction in techniques beyond what I find on youtube.  I'm an auditory AND visual learner so I liked the narrated instruction with example.