Detroit man turns two rubber bands into 11,578-pound ball, breaking Guinness World Record after 11 years

Sometimes, something you might start without much thought can become a brilliant work later on in life. And Detroit’s Claude P. Moore's experiment of building a ball from rubber bands is one such instance.

In 2015, Detroit’s Claude P. Moore began winding together two rubber bands with no clear idea of how far the project would go. Eleven years later, that modest beginning had become an 11,578-pound rubber band ball, officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the largest ever made, according to Guinness World Records.The record was confirmed in August 2026 at Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan, where a crane was used to weigh the enormous creation.

Volunteers, family members and friends helped move the ball from its storage container and attach it to the crane, turning an unusual personal obsession into a public celebration of persistence. Read more details about it here:It began with two bandsMoore’s connection to rubber bands began long before the record attempt.