Hi the secret to this is going to be white space, when things are black and fit tightly together when reduced they fill in and become blobs. Also I recommend using a font with a serif this makes the font legible. Possible the most legible fonts ever designed is Caslon
(This comment references Entry 3, 4 & 5) I'd prefer a set of laurels with less leaves. Also, consider using the whitespace between the leaves to imply some depth and dimension to them. The leaves here are too simple, too dense and too repetitive. Here is an example (last on the right):