How to Getting Type to Stick to a Slippery Slope in Illustrator

To place type on a path, follow these steps:
1. Select the Pen or Pencil tool from the Toolbox. Using the Pen or Pencil tool, create the path on which you want to place your type.
Don’t be concerned with the fill and stroke of the path; they become invisible as soon as you type on the path.
2. Select the Path Type tool from the Toolbox.
The Path Type tool is hidden in the Type toolslot.
3. Click the path at the place where you want the text to begin.
A blinking insertion point appears at that juncture.
4. Start typing.
The text runs along the path while you type. When you’re done typing, select the regular Selection tool.

After the type appears, you can edit it just as you would edit regular type with the exception that the type is stuck to your path. However, with the type attached to the path, you can move the type along the path in either direction. Just follow these steps:

1. Using an arrow Selection tool, click the path that contains the path type.
An I-beam cursor appears at the left edge of the type.
2. Click the I-beam and drag it along the path.
The type moves while you drag.
3. Release the mouse button when the type is where you want it.
Be careful when you drag the I-beam cursor along the path. If you accidentally move the tip of your cursor below the path, the type flips upside down on the path. (As industry wags say of weird stuff that consistently happens onscreen, “That’s a feature, not a bug!” In this case, it is a feature, believe it or not.) Don’t panic; just move the cursor back above the path and watch while the type rights itself.

Press the Alt key (Option on a Mac) to duplicate text while you drag it along a path. Doing so duplicates both the type and the path. (Even though you don’t actually see the duplicated path, it’s there.)
In the next section, you find out how to use this technique to create type on both the top and bottom of a circle.