I just (10 minutes ago) finished harvesting and laying out to dry a big bunch of stinging nettles!

The way I prepared them was to snip off each leaf into the sink, then rinse them well a few times in cold water (as some leaves were a little muddy), then laid each leaf out individually in dry tea cloths. It took me about two hours in total I think including the harvesting, for five tea cloths full (picture below).

I did the same with Melissa leaves a few days back which are now dry and stored in glass jar. I didn't pull up the roots of the Melissa though like I did with the nettles.

Your way of drying the nettles sounds much quicker. I'll try it next time, washing each stem individually first.