Help with Clipping masks

Hi There,

I am transitioning from Corel Draw to Illustrator and having trouble understanding how some features work...

Clipping masks... these are a bit different to Corel's Powerclips.

What I need:

I'm trying to color some text by placing various color shapes inside the text.

What I've done:

• I have converted the text to a shape, and merged the letters so I now have one compound shape.
• Then I have placed a few different colored shapes behind the "text", to give it the colors I need.
• Now I need to place the colored shapes within the "text" so that the shapes are no longer visible, just the colors, in the shape of the "text"
• I select all objects in question and say "Make Clipping Mask".

My result:

• The colored objects get placed within the text, which becomes my new clipping mask, but all of the objects lose their color. I now cannot change fills or strokes of the shapes within the clipping mask.
• In Corel I could "Edit Powerclip", which would take me inside the Powerclip where I could move and edit the contents freely.
• I am clearly thinking in terms of how Corel handles this scenario, and missing something about how Illustrator does it...

PS:

• If I draw a new shape (eg: rectangle), and place my colored shapes inside THAT, I get just the result I want, so it seems like my issue is with the compound shape that forms my "text".

Someone please educate me!