Sorry for the wall of text...

I've been doing a lot of reading and am extremely eager to begin my first plant. Unfortunately, I am the type that learns to swim by jumping in the deep end and seeing what happens. I can find resources to coach me through individual features I would like to use, but combining them isn't addressed anywhere.

Form:

Three main, strong branches or trunks, each with a dense pad of foliage: the first one splitting to the right almost immediately in a semi-cascade, the second to the left about a third of the way up in a slant-form, and the main trunk continuing the final two thirds in a more traditional informal upright form.

Questions:

1.) I feel the need to use oak and have to keep it small (under 2 feet). From all I've read, Coast Live Oak or Cork Oak seem like the best options, form-wise. Is it even possible to achieve leaf/trunk balance with such a small oak?

2.) What is the best way to produce the form I desire? Should I braid (or otherwise intertwine) three stems (or separate plants) or simply encourage the growth of two LARGE branches?

Thanks in advance for the help.