The divergent downward flow of pastes between parallel plates is examined experimentally and several distinct phases are identified in the development of the flow. The experimental design allows the distance between the plates to be adjusted. Initially, a bar of paste is formed but forces arising from the sliding contact cause a back pressure on the feed nozzle which leads to bulging of the paste close to the entry port. This observation allows an alternative method of determining paste properties which potentially gives better estimates of the bulk yield stress than those found by a piston extrusion method. In subsequent phases, the flow is radial when close to the feed but becomes mon complex at greater distances. A radial flow model is derived and compared with experimentally determined values of the radial stress component at the inlet. In some cases, the agreement is good. However, the paste does not always flow radially and the surface contact with the plates is not always good. The flow fields should prove valuable in the development of numerical models; these also show how defects can develop in products made by moulding.