Time for action — Object to Path

We'll add stylized text to our current project of the woman's face to illustrate how to use the Object to Path functionality and how we can further manipulate the text when we use this feature:

1. Open your previous Inkscape project.
2. Press the shortcut keys: Shift + Ctrl + L to open the Layers dialog if it is not already open.
3. Create a new layer for the hair object(s). Press the + button in the Layers dialog. Name the layer: Text and click Add.

   Tip

   Locking layers

   To prevent accidentally selecting other objects, lock all other layers except the one you are currently working on. In this case, lock all layers except the Text layer.

4. In the Add Layer, select the create and edit text button from the toolbox:
   
5. Click on the canvas and type the word: SMILE:
   
6. Now we are going to convert the text to a path. From the main menu, choose Path | Object to path.

   Now when you select the word, the bounding box has changed and you can only select individual letters as follows...