Eureka! I couldn't get the last suggestion working either, because using :tool_node: wasn't bringing up any paths! I ended up taking the whole image and font into GIMP and manually defining paths there. This allowed me to crop everything else out that wasn't needed and get the effect I wanted! Here ...

i think there is a little confusion about what i'm trying to do, so i will post some updated pics of it. in this picture, you'll see the plain text "Control" at the top. beneath it is the image that i want to have shown within the letters. the next word "Control" is the output of...

ErikTiePie, thank you for the reply! i was the one who wrote the OP, but apparently i wasn't logged in. i had previously attempted this, but what happens is the font's shadow acquires the image, but the letters themselves do not. what does that mean? *edit for clarification* if you see the image i o...