I just got back from the local hobby shop (You know the one, the dusty place that time forgot? Open since 1960 and some inventory
still hasn't turned over?), where I was rummaging through old model publications. There was one issue of a mag from Russia that I'd never seen before. My skills at deciphering Cyrillic have deteriorated a bit, but there was an interesting article on replicating oak leaves.
The author started with a piece of brass tubing chamfered at the end so as to form a cutting edge. He then bent the edge at intervals to form something reminiscent of an oak leaf. He then used it to punch mini leaves out of an actual tree leaf, so that a small vein toward the outside of the leaf represented the strong main vein down the center.
Then the crazy Russkie built a replica of an oak tree with hundreds of these little leaves . . . . must be something about those long winters.