Been there!Tried loads of ways, but, unfortunately, the only way that gave a good result was modelling one (easy enough):

and then copying, scaling and placing each one by hand and then connecting them. A lot of work!
Here’s my end result, but mind you, they were not meant for a close-up shot and the lighting was very dark (not spend a lot of time on the shading)and they were mostly hidden behind an apple, so in that scenario this worked:
