My lock collection as of 2026-03-11, 462 locks!
My arbitrary categories:
- 218 padlocks
- 44 cylinder locks
- 44 combination locks
- 43 vintage locks
- 41 tiny locks
- 37 heart locks
- 19 high-security locks
- 11 oversized locks
- 3 puzzlebox locks
- 2 handcuff locks
That puts me about ⅓ of the way to my goal of 1000 love-locks for my museum installation (some of them are bike locks and other non-love-locks).
I've picked all but about 5 of them (most hundreds of times).
Liebesschlösser als Symbol der Liebe https://malvorlagen-seite.de/liebesschloesser-als-zeichen-der-liebe/ via @coloringcuties
#liebe #love #verliebt #liebesschlosser #lovelocks #valentinesday #valentine
My girlfriend and I went out yesterday to steal love locks, then went to get some warm food and drinks afterwards (it was friggin' cold).
We ended up with 28 new love locks¹, a cinnamon roll the size of a large hedgehog, and chai I had to strain through my teeth.
All and all, it was a beautiful day and a lovely experience...though next time I hope they pour the chai through a strainer 😅
¹I went for easier prey because, from the time I pulled my hands out of my pockets, I had about 30 seconds of poking icy metal before my fingers went numb.
And people say Mastodon is hard 😋
Gorgeous antique 8-Lever "Mastodon" steel padlock, picked in ~7 seconds, using homemade tools fashioned out of recycled bike spokes.
This is the second of two beautiful antique locks my partner gave me as a present.
The reason this opened so quickly is because several of the levers are rusted in place, and I bypassed the remaining ones and pushed the locking pawls out of the way directly.
Antique 4-Lever steel padlock, picked in ~10 seconds, using homemade tools fashioned out of recycled bike spokes.
This is one of two beautiful antique locks my partner gave me as a present.
#TIL I don't have enough locks.
I counted 231, but 🤷🏼♀️, who knows if I missed any.
Update: I found a whole other box of locks, so add ~25 more.
*I gave away like a hundred when I moved several years ago—this is what I have now.
Speaking of the end goal of this project; I'm planning to work with some folx to design and build a decorative structure that I can attach one thousand love locks to. Then find a gallery to exhibit the interactive installation.
I want folx to be able to come admire, pick, and rearrange the love locks, and I plan to have ten integrated lockboxes with slots for depositing love letters (if you can open them, then you can read the notes inside).
Now comes the #AskFedi part: what kind of design should I do for the installation?
1. Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life covered in locks with lockboxes dangling down like fruit.
2. Broken Hearts Club, where there are two pieces for hanging locks: a whole heart and a broken one. All the locks would start on one side, with five lockboxes on each side. Hopefully people would pick locks and move them to the other side over time.
3. Wedding Cake, a multi-tiered cake, frosted in love locks. There would be two "bride" and two "groom" figures that folx could unlock to swap out the ones at the top of the cake.
4. Red Team / Blue Team design that would be like the broken hearts club, but more of a nod to security (and I'd put 500 locks on each side to start).
5. Something else (see comments).
32 of the 37 love locks I rescued yesterday. Some are in sad shape and need some restoration. A bunch were rusted away and beyond rehabilitation (poor things 💔).
I'm excited that I'm getting closer to my big art installation goal.
🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄)
~meoralis~
Sabrina
steve