Smudge Sticks or Wands
To create your own Sage and Smudge wands, sticks or bundles, start by selecting the herbs you want to include in your finished product. Arrange the stems, leaves, twigs, needles, etc., facing the same direction on a small towel, piece of felt or cloth. Place the colored string or embroidery floss you have chosen to bind your herbs together within easy reach. You can find the type of colored string or embroidery floss you need at craft and fabric stores.
Bring the base of the longest stems together in your less dominant hand as if you were going to hold them like a bouquet. Begin shaping and arranging the herbs that will be included in your wand as you gather the parts together. Wrap the colored string or embroidery floss you have chosen tightly around the base of the stems you are holding nine times, leaving a short two to three inch length of string as a loose end.
Continue to shape the wand by wrapping the string around the outside leaves of the wand you are creating, winding around, making nine loops from the base to the top of the wand (or stick) taking shape in your hands. You want to bind the herbs quite tightly together. It is suggested that you make nine loops as you bind upward, and nine as you loop back down the length of the Sage stick or wand, finally wrapping the base again nine times.
Tie off the end of your thread or embroidery floss tightly with the original loose string at the handle of your wand. Finally, cut off any tails of the string and place the newly formed Sage and Smudge wand or stick on a piece of screen wire or netting, on a drying rack, or simply on paper towels on a cookie sheet. Then they should be placed on a high shelf in a well-ventilated dark and dry place so they are disturbed as little as possible by outside influences during the drying process. Turn the wands or sticks weekly as they dry, so that they dry evenly.