ok so i decided i wasnt busy enough at work so i told my best friend i would make a birthday cake for her mothers 50th and let her look around this website ?what was i thinking? so now she wants a topsy turvy (ive never made one!) with springy spiral things like you see on wedding cakes what kinda metal do i use / how do i make them all perfect looking or is there somewhere that everyone buys them... please help for the first time ever she told me she believes in me and thinks im amazing at what i do. if this cake comes out crappy im going to have to change my name!!!

Ok, Im really new at this, so I looked it up in a book for you. 1.5mm aluminum wire . This is what Lindy Smith did with her sparkling fish cake . Its in her book Cakes to Inspire and Desire. I hope this helps. oh I just notice she uses .6mm jewellery wire on her snow flake cake. so it probably depends on how heavy what you attach to them is.

Wrap the wire around the handle of a wooden spoon to make the spirals.

You can also use floral wire, which you can buy at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. I use 20 gauge wire, myself. The smaller the gauge, the thicker the wire. You can manipulate it by wrapping it around something cylindrical like gdlgdl said. I suggest using coffee stirrers to stabilize the wires. Stick the coffee stirrer in the cake and the wire into the coffee stirrer...this keeps the wire from falling and ripping through the cake.

HTH!

Edited to add links to making TT cakes:

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-587795-instructions.html+crooked

http://www.cakecentral.com/article1-Instructions-For-Building-A-Whimsical-Tilted-Cake.html

wow coffee stirrers. thats a great idea. (sounds like a tip my mom would come up with but i never listen to her what does she know!!!) but i will take it from you guys so thanks for the help im glad this sounds easy!!