The other 2 responses are referring to something called crackle, which may or may not be what you're wanting. It gives a look of old, cracked paint where you see the top color, and through the cracks you see another color. You can buy crackle at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. It's not too difficult to use. But what you seem to be describing sounds more like antiquing, where you you apply a sheer glaze and wipe off the extra. In this case, you can also go to your local craft store, and choose either an antiquing glaze (or it may just be referred to as glaze). This is much easier to work with than trying to apply paint and wipe off, as they are more sheer and dry more slowly, so therefore are more forgiving. If you accidentally wipe off more than you want, you simply add more and wipe back again. They usually come in a number of colors, but if you don't like the selection you can even buy an untinted glaze and mix any shade of acrylic craft paint that you like (and there are scads!) with a 50:50 ratio. This is really a super easy project! If you choose the antiquing over the crackle, you will probably be done in something like 15 minutes! The crackle will take longer if you go that way, simply because it has to dry between coats. Either way, I hope you enjoy the process as it can really be fun, and love the results!
