Making my own smudge sticks

I picked several sage leaves and they're hanging in my closet now. How long do plants usually take to dry, and what's best to tie them with? I have their stems tied with regular sewing string now. And how do you tie them and light them so they don't catch on fire and burn my bedroom down? Cuz that almost happened before (battery recharger hehe. I'm an idiot).
I wanted to pick some before winter kills them all, and I'm such an incense freak.

You have to bundle them very tightly when you tie them together, and using parts of stems helps slow down the burning. I use natural fiber ties - mostly cotton, since I expect synthetics would smell pretty bad when burned and might even melt before burning.

mine always fall apart.....boo hoo! lol

that's why i tend to buy them these days, although you can always burn the leaves on charcoal discs if you can't tie the bundles tightly enough.

jue xx