Hi Steve,

Unless you are contemplating well into the thousands, a punch (innie)
and die (outie) will get expensive fast. However once set up you could
make an awful lot, awfully cheaply and awfully fast. You would need a
small 5-ton press, a die set to hold the punch and die and then the
punch and die.

A good used Benchmaster 5T would cost around $2K, the die sets around
$500. If the edges of the leaf shape are smooth then a punch and die
would probably best be done by EDM and run to around $2K. Once you
have that set up though, each leaf will cost about $0.0001 each. If
you want other designs, then all it will cost is the new punch and
die. An iron-worker etc would be way too slow to be cost effective. I
have a 5T Benchmaster that does 40 to 50 parts per minute when running
auto.

If you get them done by Water-jet, laser, or plasma they will run
about $0.50 and up. The problem with laser or plasma is you will get
paint charring on the edges. That pretty much leaves water-jet.

Dave