Hemingray.info
 
About Christian Willis An aqua Hemingray 42, my first insulator

Hi there! My name is Christian Willis, and I collect Hemingray glass insulators as a hobby. It all started in 1990 when I was about 9 years old—My dad Bud took me antiquing at the Orange Circle in Orange, California. I only had $3.00 to spend, and the only thing I could find priced for that amount was a weird green glass thing. I just thought it was cool, so I bought it. Little did I know...

Intrigued, my father and I visited the library in Laguna Niguel, CA to research what these odd pieces of glass were. Before long, we were in touch with Carol McDougald of Crown Jewels of the Wire Magazine, and from there the National Insulator Association (NIA). We learned that there was an annual antique bottle and insulator show held in Bakersfield, CA, which we attended for the first time in 1992. I became a member of the NIA shortly afterwards.

I must say, a lot has happened in the past 30+ years of collecting! I've met many lifelong friends, displayed portions of my collection at several shows and won several awards, joined the NIA Board of Directors, and learned a lot about insulators and the history behind them! While my interests have continued to evolve over time, one thing will always remain the same: my love of insulators, that all started from that one chance purchase at an antique shop as a kid. If you love history, making friends, and collecting, this is a truly great hobby to be involved in. Join the NIA today!

My Collecting Timeline
  • 1990: Bought my first insulator, an aqua Hemingray 42 (CD 154).
  • 1992: Displayed my humble collection at the Laguna Niguel Library; Attended my first insulator show in Bakersfield, CA.
  • 1993: Joined the NIA; Attended my first National insulator show in Denver, Colorado; Displayed my growing collection again at the Laguna Niguel library; Decided to focus on collecting Hemingray insulators.
  • 1995: Attended the NIA Western Regional show in Visalia, California and displayed my collection at a show for the first time, winning 1st place in the Junior category; Attended my first Cayucos, California insulator show; Became a member of the Central and Southern Counties Insulator Club (now known as the Golden State Insulator Club); Displayed my collection for a 3rd time at the Laguna Niguel library, and made the front page of the Laguna Niguel News.
  • 1996: Attended my second NIA National show in Long Beach, CA, and met Bill Meier, Bob Stahr and Shaun Kotlarsky for the first time, all fellow Hemingray specialists; Played piano at the National awards banquet; displayed my collection for the second time at a show and won 1st place in the Junior category and the People's Choice Award; Began drawing Laugh Lines comics which appeared as a monthly feature in Crown Jewels of the Wire Magazine.
  • 1997: Attended my first Tulare, CA insulator and bottle show.
  • 1998: Joined Insulator Collectors On the Net (ICON); Took a road trip with my dad Bud to retrace historic Route 66, visiting Shaun Kotlarsky in Michigan and Bob Stahr in Indiana, where he took us to the site of Hemingray's Muncie factory and I was fortunate to dig at the Hemingray Dump.
  • 2000: Displayed "Hemingray: Insulators and More" at the Cayucos, CA show, winning 1st place and the Crown Jewels of the Wire Most Educational Display award.
  • 2002: Launched Hemingray.info!
  • 2003: Appointed the committee chairman, newsletter editor, and webmaster for the Central and Southern Counties Insulator Club of California (now known as the Golden State Insulator Club); Digitized the CSCIC club logo; Attended my first Merzoian Bros. Tailgater in Porterville, CA.
  • 2004: Joined the NorCal Insulator Club (later merged with the Central and Southern Counties Insulator Club to become the Golden State Insulator Club)
  • 2005: Displayed "A Hemingray By Any Other Name" at the 2005 Cayucos, CA show.
  • 2008: Became a lifetime member of the Golden State Insulator Club; Created the new GSIC club logo based on designs from club members.
  • 2010: Moved to Colorado and joined the Triple Ridge Insulator Club.
  • 2011: Appointed NIA Drip Points Ad Manager.
  • 2012: Attended the Kansas City, MO National with my family and displayed my "Undercover Hemingrays", winning 1st place in the Specialty category.
  • 2014: Joined the NIA Board of Directors as the NIA Information Director; Attended the Farmington, NM National with my dad Bud, our first show together in several years.
  • 2016: Digitized and redesigned the Triple Ridge Insulator Club logo.
  • 2017: Took over as Editor of the NIA's quarterly magazine, Drip Points; Attended the Colorado Springs, CO National with my family and displayed "Look Closer: A Study on Hemingray Embossing Errors", winning 1st place in the Specialty category.
  • 2018: Recipient of the NIA President's Award; celebrated 25 years of membership with the NIA.
  • 2021: Rebuilt Hemingray.info from the ground up, adding even more information on Hemingray insulators; Attended the Farmington National show with my family.
  • 2022: Stepped down from the NIA Board of Directors and editorship of Drip Points Magazine to focus on my family. Honoring the life and memory of my mother, Kathleen Elizabeth Cokas, NIA #5378 (1951-2022).
  • 2023: Received NIA Outstanding Service award, NIA President's Award, and Best Drip Points Article awards.
About Hemingray.info

This website began in 2002 when I purchased "Hemingray.info", around the time that the .info domain name debuted. Hemingray.com, Hemingray.net, and Hemingray.org were already being used by fellow Hemingray enthusiasts Bob Stahr, Shaun Kotlarsky, and Bill Meier, respectively.

Initially this site started out just as a "place on the web" for me to put my personal info: show journals, insulator photos, and Laugh Lines comics. Over the years, though, I wanted to expand the site to actually be what its name implied: information on Hemingray insulators!

In May 2003, Hemingray.info version 2.0 was launched. The site was now a hybrid of Hemingray information and personal features. Over the months, I added the Hemingray Database, which at the time was MANUALLY input! It was months of work, and contained literally hundreds of individual HTML pages. It was an absolute nightmare to maintain, as you can probably imagine.

Fast forward to the year 2008: While working towards my Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology, my eyes were opened to the wonderful world of dynamic pages and relational databases! Through mostly self-study, I learned how to code in PHP and MySQL. Bill Meier of Insulators.info even helped me out, which I truly appreciate!

In 2009, I revamped the site once again (version 3.0). This completed the transition to Hemingray insulators as being the main focus of the site.

Fast forward another 11 years, and here we are in 2021. Mobile devices have long been the dominant device for displaying web sites, HTML 5 and CSS 3 are the new standards, and my PHP code was woefully out of date. Even the Hemingray Database was becoming out of date with the newest additions to the price guide. It was time to redesign the web site again! Version 4.0 went live in February 2021.

Even now, this web site is constantly changing, a lot of it behind the scenes that visitors will never see. But I'm always using this site to continually better my amateur programming skills. I hope you enjoy it! And if you have any suggestions on how to improve your experience here, please let me know!