I've been asked to make a cake topper like this, I know how to do stars on wires, but what are the thicker ribbon like wires?  Anyone know? (i'm in th UK)

I see wires with the stars, but I don't think the gold is actual wire. It reminds me of the foil that is used in helium balloon weights that were curled. In the picture below, you can see some of what I am talking about (the ones without the stars). They are usually straight, but you can curl them the same method as used with curling ribbon, with the sharp edge of scissors.

Hi, thanks for your reply, I thought the same, but couldn't figure out how they made the foil twine stand up, because when you use it on presents its floppy!  Maybe they stuck a wire under it?

That stuff is also called beargrass. Florist have it, or Michael's, or eBay.

That's it - bear grass, I could not remember it. No, no wire, you curl it by... I don't know how to describe it, scraping it along the sharp edge of scissors and it will curl all by itself. Maybe you can search for a video on you tube on how to curl ribbon with scissors.