What you are describing is pickling, traditionally done with whitewash. On harder woods, like Maple, you might to use a wire brush first to clean out the pores. Then apply the whitewash across the grain. Let it dry to about 50%, then wipe off the standing whitewash, again, across the grain. Once it is nearly dry, wipe it with the grain until you get the desired level of pickling.
Whitewash it tricky to mix and work with, and there is a learning curve.
Milkpaint is an acceptable substitute, but you will want to thin it down with an appropriate solvent...presuming you are using a commercial product as opposed to the real thing.
For your purposes, with a short deadline and no experience, I would opt for one of the commercially available pickling finishes. Minwax would be my personal choice, but there are others out there.