Scroller Spotlight: Kendra Chura

Scroller Spotlight: Kendra Chura

SCROLLER Spotlight: KENDRA CHURA


Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts Magazine Contributor Feature

Scroll Saw Magazine Contributor Kendra Chura creates scroll saw projects and patterns —with the support of some farmhouse friends!

When you meet Kendra Chura, one thing becomes immediately clear—
she doesn’t sit still for long. Then again, sitting still isn’t much of an option; Kendra’s worn Carolina work boots serve double duty in her garage workshop and across the yard at a farm sanctuary she runs with
her mom. (Penny and Emmet, two of nine resident goats, like to wander over and watch her scroll.) But Kendra doesn’t just keep moving because of all there is to do, she does it because of all there is to learn—and she
wants to learn it all.

Kendra’s woodworking career didn’t start with the farm, the small business, or the garage shop (which she’s had to temporarily vacate due to attic leaks). A few high school art classes led to an online course on oils that grew her love for painting. Then one day several years ago, a friend dropped off a pile of trash pallets, and Kendra found she liked the process of tearing them apart to make something new. She became a sign maker, using the materials and tools she had on hand—antique shaving brushes from a garage sale, more pallets, and a host of vinyl stencils— which got old quickly. Once she discovered the scroll saw, though, it became her primary tool.

“I didn’t know much about scrolling. Everything from what materials work well together to
the best blades, I really had to figure out on my own.” ~ Kendra Chura

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Now, Kendra’s virtual shop boasts everything from custom signs and clocks to segmented portraits inspired by her rescue animals: goats, rabbits, even a sassy Great Bernese named Troy. She’s started incorporating more texture into her designs with a rotary tool, and includes epoxy any chance she can. She picked up a woodburner earlier this year and, as she often does, shared her learning process online. Her page is full of video tutorials on everything from scroll saw basics to creating stratus clouds with a heat gun.

“My very best friends are people I’ve never even met in person,” she said. Over the years, many of the woodworkers Kendra has met through platforms like Instagram and Facebook have become part of a system of mutual advice and inspiration that bridges physical gaps. Although Kendra prefers to work alone in the quiet of her shop (excluding visits
from the goats, of course), that system is always just a text or a message away. With the garage reno nearly done,
Kendra’s thinking of all of the perks that insulation, drywall, and a moisture-free attic will offer—namely, more space to
play with new materials, like hardwood, acrylic, and metal. All it needs is the final touch, a sign featuring the Kendra’s
Got Wood business logo—made from a rusty sawmill blade she found at her grandfather’s house. It patiently awaits its
turn in the corner. “If I see something with potential, I hang onto it,” she said.

Kendra is a regular contributor of Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts Magazine. Find her latest project, Spring Chicks Segmentation, in the pages of the Spring 2022 issue.

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