Owls of the Nile

I knew I wanted to do this design, but I wasn't sure how. I thought about making the owls 3D, but decided I could do a better job with piping. But, I knew I couldn't pipe them directly on the cake and have them look right. So, I printed it out, covered it in clear shelf paper, and piped the owls in royal icing. (I cut it into three pieces because I knew it would never come off the paper in one piece if I left it whole.) When it dried, I carefully got the owls off of the paper and placed them on the cake. Then, I re-piped all of the little bits that had broken when I transferred the owls.