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Here's where you can see what's been updated on Hemingray.info at a glance! As the site is being redesigned, you can keep track here of pages as they're updated and improved.
Here's where you can keep up to date on the latest general news about what Christian Willis is up to in the hobby, any new Hemingray finds, and more!
November 2023
The last year has been challenging with the loss of my mother and father-in-law, but I have been gradually working on the web site here and there to keep it updated. I was also able to attend two local Colorado insulator and bottle shows with my family over the last few months; it was good to see so many familiar faces! I was also very fortunate to add several key pieces to my collection, including a CD 186.1 specimen, a CD 287.2 Locke, a CD 201 H.G.CO., a CD 186.2 tall variant, a BT 2125 floor tube, and a complete BT 2005 bushing. Last but certainly not least, I was extremely humbled when I received a care package in the mail from NIA President Darryl Wagner with awards for NIA Outstanding Service (2022), NIA President's Award (2022), and Best Drip Points article for my Hemingray Corner series of articles in Drip Points Magazine. I am truly grateful for these honors! I'm hoping to gradually return more to the hobby in the coming years, and I thank you all for your continued patience with me.
October 2022
A lot has happened since we attended the 2021 National and I haven't really had a chance to update the web site lately. I stepped down from my NIA Information Director and Drip Points Managing Editor roles to focus more on our family in 2022. Within the past year, both my father-in-law and mother (Kathy Cokas Moore, NIA #5378) succumbed to cancer. While I have continued to collect, my heart just hasn't been the same. However, I am still updating this web site, and trying to keep myself active. Thank you for your patience.
July 31, 2021
The Farmington National was a great success! We had a great time seeing collectors and came home with many new insulators, including a couple Hemingrays I had been looking for for decades. This inspired me to update the Hemingray Database: I've added 30 insulators that are not currently assigned CD numbers! There are a few more out there, but I need to do additional research first. As you can read in my March 27, 2021 update below, I had to completely redesign the database to handle multiple design systems. As a result, I've created two new numbering systems to handle these unique styles:
May 31, 2021
We're just a mere month away from the 2021 National show which will be held in Farmington, New Mexico! If you haven't made plans, now's the time to do so! The family and I will be there, and we're super excited (especially the kids!) We'll have a sales table, so if you want to stop by and say hi please do so! I will be posting a complete wanted list soon. I also just put the finishing touches on the June 2021 issue of the National Insulator Association's Drip Points Magazine so I am able to dedicate more time to updating Hemingray.info. Be on the lookout for more site improvements soon!
March 27, 2021
A huge behind-the-scenes improvement has been added to the Hemingray Insulator Database: the database structure has been completely redesigned to handle multiple design systems! What does this mean? While most pintype and spool insulators fall under the hobby's "CD" (Consolidated Design) numbering system, there are actually many other Hemingray insulator designs that do not fall into this category: Special Issue (SI) insulators (a.k.a. Salesman Samples), Floor/Wall Tubes, Bushings, and other designs that are not currently assigned a CD number. To kick things off, I have added Salesman Samples to the database, and more designs will be added soon!
March 13, 2021
A lot of improvements continue to go on behind the scenes at Hemingray.info! About 75% of the website has been converted over to using the new mobile-friendly format. I've also made several improvements to the Hemingray Database Detail page, with a lot more planned in the coming months. I just have to find time between work and my volunteer work for the National Insulator Association. Take a look around and let me know what you think! As always, if you have any suggestions for other content you'd like to see, please feel free to reach out and let me know!
Over the past couple of months, I've managed to pick up a few Hemingray pieces, including several new refrigerator bottle designs I didn't have, upgrades for my CD 1094 and CD 1095 Hemingrays, and a couple of suspected Hemingray glass switch bushings.
January 31, 2021
I wanted to provide an update because it's been a couple of years since my last one! Most of my time recently has been taken up with work and volunteering for the National Insulator Association. If you haven't become a member yet, now's the time! You get 6 issues of Drip Points Magazine free with your membership each year. It's a great value, and it's edited by yours truly.
Yes, I'm still collecting, and I've managed to find a few cool pieces to add to my Hemingray collection, but my other hobbies (Song of the South memorabilia and Stonehouse Signs) have also drawn my attention recently. In fact, last year I just completed a complete site redesign over at my other hobby website, songofthesouth.net, updating all of my web site code to use HTML 5 and CSS 3. Now it's time to do the same for Hemingray.info! The site design hasn't really changed since 2009, and it doesn't really look great on mobile devices. Be on the lookout in the coming months as I pour some much-needed attention into the site!
July 28, 2018
The last year has been pretty busy! The 2017 Colorado Springs National was fantastic, and I wrote a show journal about it. I also displayed my collection of Hemingray embossing errors entitled "Look Closer!" It received First Place for the Specialty category. I also thinned down my Hemingray collection quite a bit, while picking up an insulator that had been on my wanted list for 25 years: a CD 301.5 Hemingray-515 from the late Butch Haltman's collection. What made it even more special was that it was the exact piece pictured in the McDougald's Insulators Volume 2, which I used to drool over as a kid. It's one of about 5 known to the hobby and was dug from the Hemingray Dump likely in the 1970s.
As you've probably noticed, I haven't had a chance to pay as much attention to the web site lately due to other commitments. In addition to being the NIA Information Director for the National Insulator Association, this year I also took over editorship for the association's quarterly magazine, Drip Points. Check out a sample issue here! If you aren't a member of the NIA, I hope you'll consider joining! I've been a member since 1993, and it's well worth it.
I was honored to receive the NIA President's Award at this year's National in Kansas City, which regrettably I wasn't able to attend due to a family vacation conflict.
On the collecting front, over the past year I've obtained several pieces that have been on my wanted list for a long, long time:
On the web site front, I was recently made aware of issues with the Hemingray Database, where some pages weren't working as expected. Sorry for the inconvenience! I have identified the issue and all pages should be working once again. My web host made some changes on their servers and it broke some of my code.