I had to email my sister because I didn't remember. Christmas 2008 I flew down to Cali, the airline lost my luggage, I was two weeks in California with my carry on. I bought some plain white tshirts, my sister the textile wizard had some cochineal bugs, and we got to work.

We used a grinder with a vertical plunger to grind up the bugs. I can't remember if I got mine at Williams Sonoma or Sur le table, neither are showing the unit as current product. Check Target for salt/ pepper mills before you buy.

With the the ground bugs in the bottom of a stock pot with 2 inches of water we brought the dye to a simmer and submerged one of my new plain white shirts for 20 minutes or so.

Two years later (100% cotton) it looks like this. It was never "red" or "purple", but once upon a time it was pretty dark for pink.