In layman’s terms is gravity created, the cause and effect, the byproduct of mass, density, or time travel?

It seems you can find many ideas of where or how gravity is created, produced, etc. and not all agree. Some rightly even say they have not a clue how it works, while others believe it involves gravitons, (which would be an interesting question unto its own). If gravity is due to mass that would mean if I had the ability to cobble together in space enough cotton balls to make a sphere 300,000,000 miles in diameter, I would create gravity? If due to density then how did stars get created if it were all gas of equal density (notwithstanding how gravity supposing pulled the cloud together making the center dense), where or how did the genesis gravity start, was created, generated, or manufactured to start pulling things together. If time, if instead of time space continuum being a sheet with a bowling ball in the middle causing smaller ball, baseballs, cue balls etc. to be pulled towards the center, what if it were stretched over a upturned table, then any cue ball placed on the outside would go away from the bowling ball in the center because the table leg would disrupt the bulge made by the bowling ball on the sheet. What makes them so sure there is no upturned table or even ridges, or ruffles on the sheet that would catch the cue ball before it made it to the bowling ball? In layman’s terms, gravity is caused, made by what, and this is how?