Hi! Are you concerned with wearing origami couture? Here is information to ease your worries. If you have further questions, all you have to do is contact me :).
I can assure you that the pieces can be worn all day and night (lightweight!), put in your purse and tossed in your jewelry box.
The paper is treated with an acrylic based medium for stiffening fibers. It hardens the paper, but enables a little bit of flexibility for your comfort and also to preserve a piece of the tradition of designing with paper. An acrylic based coating is applied to protect it from fading and yellowing.
A water-based sealant is applied to make it water resistant. They have also survived being dunked in water and worn in a NY pouring rain thunderstorm. It is not recommended to take a shower or go for a swim in these earrings for long periods of time. If you happen to be caught in a summer thunderstorm trying to take cover, you don't have to worry.
If your earrings have broken without any cause by you, please let me know and I will get that fixed for you.
The black and white striped earrings with words on them are a little less flexible than the others, but they are just as durable. The other fans can actually open and close, although I do not recommend you do this a lot.
You can view the earrings being twisted and pulled on to test durability.
https://www.masandnobu.com/pages/durability-water-resistanceOf course, like any jewelry or art piece if you pull on it hard enough it will break. They can withstand quite a bit, but everything has a breaking point.