Artist and teacher who was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She worked as a laboratory technician, studying sculpture at Michaelis School of Art and with Nel Kaye. Always an extensive traveller, Elstein settled in England in 1960. She studied ceramics with Catherine Yarrow, 1965–9, setting up a studio in Southampton, 1969–70, where she extended the range of her work. After studying sculpture and printmaking at West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham, 1975–7, in 1978 set up Spath Road Workshop where she lived in Didsbury, Manchester, teaching “awareness through art”. Showed in many group exhibitions including MAFA, Hampstead Artists’ Council, with Chilford Hall Press and abroad. In 1983 she gained a North West Bursary Award concerned with designs for inflatable spaces, 1986 bringing a colour prize at British International Print Biennale, Bradford.