Mental image of space time distortion cuased by mass

[Earl]

The classical illustration for space time distortion caused by mass is normally a big yellow ball placed onto a black gridded sheet which then the ball sinks into.

However this obviously has its limitations

a) the ball is touching the sheet

space is illustrated as a single plane

c) the distortion kind of looks like a bowl with a fruit in the middle.

Im trying to build a mental image of how this really works, so far I imagine a yellow sphere (the sun) and this is surrounded by a mist which is fades out as it gets further from the sun, the denser the mist the greater the distortion.

Any thoughts on this?

[Alastair Rae]

I've always had a problem with the usual "rubber sheet" analogy. When they send a ball bearing spiralling around the depression in the sheet, they're using gravity to illustrate the distortion of gravity. I'd like a better mental image too.